ZerOthello
by The Wallflower
Summary: Zero becomes the prey of a fellow Maverick Hunter and a plot of deception and betrayal, as he starts to believe that his best friend, Mega Man X, has become a Maverick.
1. Act I, Scene 1

_This story is in no way intended to infringe on the established copyrights and trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd. It is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended for sale. It may be freely distributed providing that no alterations to the story are made._

_The characters and incidents portrayed and the names in this story used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person, living, dead, or otherwise, is purely coincidental and unintentional._

_Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty._

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ZerOthello

by

Eric J. Juneau

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**ACT I, Scene 1 **

"Your circuits must be scrambled. To think that you could just... just let this slip by me. Without thinking I wouldn't care. It- it-"

"Slow down. You'll overheat. If you think I would have let this pass without letting you know, you're wrong. Sometimes events like this happen and you're incapable of doing anything about it."

Janus brushed his upper lip. Duplex leaned forward with clenched fists, exasperated. Janus would say he was 'in a snit', but that was familiar. Working with him for so many years was a trial in itself, when the reploid let his temper fester like this.

"My account is nearly gone and I have barely anything to show for it," Duplex continued. "All my credits, my shore leave, traded to you."

Janus looked up at the chronometer - half past midnight. Reploids didn't really need sleep, but all the human military did. That made much of Maverick Hunter HQ empty at night, perfect for late night meetings such as this. Janus and Duplex were standing in one of the abandoned corners somewhere in the labyrinth of the complex - dark, quiet and secluded.

"You haven't done anything to see that I'm promoted, advanced, upgraded - anything! All I am is a water cooler combatant. And I don't even drink water. Don't you see what I'm saying?"

Janus could see fine with his night-optic vision. Duplex was flailing his arms wildly, flustered and frustrated. Janus contemplated how one would actually see what he was saying.

"You've just been stringing me along," Duplex finished.

Duplex was a pale yellow robot, a little more rotund than most reploids based off X's design, and not nearly as advanced as those made today. His helmet looked like a fisherman's hat, rimmed around the brow. His eyes were too big for his head, glass and mosaic.

"I'm through listening to your-"

"Be quiet, Duplex." Janus held up his hand. It shut him up. "Haven't you been listening to me at all during this?"

"Well-"

"I assure you that I'm doing everything in my power to turn your payments into promotion. But these things take time. You know that Strike Fox and Straylight have been in competition for recognition the longest, but neither of them have succeeded in gaining a promotion. What those two are looking for is just a rank and a grade. Pieces of paper. But it's the power and privileges that you seek. The dynamic duo has the most and I detest them as much as you," Janus lowered his voice to a growl of hate so Duplex would know what he meant. The duo he referred to were X and Zero, the commanders of MHHQ. "You know why? They're hypocrites. Our progenitor, the supposed Alpha, is a pacifist, yet he's the best fighter in the force. The constant combat we face, X destroys all Mavericks without a second thought. Ridiculous, two-faced robot. And for all his whining he doesn't show an ounce of remorse. His partner, the crimson crusader, the fabled prodigal son, he's a fine Maverick Hunter leader, a true commander. He has the moves, the skills, the title he deserves, but people mistake him for being level-headed. He is emotionless, he would have to be, to kill so many reploids. They may be Maverick, but he forgets they're his own people. This takes a great toll on him. A fierce conflict that lies in his mind, ready to burst."

"You certainly take great pride in being a reploid," Duplex noted sarcastically.

"I take pride in being independent. Would you hold loyalty to such hunters as them?"

"No."

"Then there you go. I have no love of them. I hate everyone - humans and reploids alike - who revere them as gods, who make golden idols of them. Look through the halls tomorrow. You'll see hunters walking up and down them, gleefully serving their masters, waiting until the day they're shipped out to battle, gleefully following them into battle and gleefully getting their heads blasted off. They deserve exactly that. If I were running this army, I'd promote those loyal to themselves. That's the only true kind of loyalty. It's the only loyalty I retain. Those who can stand for themselves are the true warriors, like me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I show my feelings. The me you see in the halls, is not the real me. Believe me when I tell you I find no reason they should be the commanders of this army." He pressed his fingertips together.

Duplex sat back and let out a puff of air, winded from Janus' long harangue. "Those two certainly wear a great burden."

"Indeed."

"It- yeah." Duplex scratched the side of his head. Janus noticed the action, and thought of how all these human behaviors were just programmed into reploids, but in Duplex they seemed especially synthetic.

"I'll tell you what," Janus said. "You wanna do something? Let's do something. Let's get something started." Janus rose to his feet and pumped his fist.

"Now, wait, let's- let's not do something rash now."

"Aw, come on, you wanted me to take some action? You wanted to see some results? You've made your payments, now let's see the ensuing fruits." Janus pulled Duplex out of his respite by the shoulder. The gold reploid nearly stumbled forward, trying to keep up with Janus' quick pace.

"Janus? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"You don't even know what I'm going to do." At the end of the hall, Janus pushed the up button for the elevator and it dimly lit pale orange.

Duplex stood behind Janus, nervously darting his eyes left and right and twitching his fingers. He looked Janus up and down while he was waiting. He was a reploid with a slim, lean figure. His shark gray armor was sleek and trim, the opposite of his own corpulent body. His helmet had a violet jewel, shaped with five spires protruding and angled back over his scalp, like a rising star. Duplex didn't know what Janus was designed for - battle, stealth, scouting, maintenance, or something else.

The elevator doors opened, dousing the two in muted yellow light from the darkness of the hallway. Janus stepped in and Duplex followed, placing himself slightly behind Janus again.

Soothing muzak and the whirring of the hover unit became the only sounds in the sterilized elevator. Duplex's reflective eyes flickered anxiously from the back of the stoic gray reploid to the decreasing numbers on the digital panel. "Ummm, so what are we going to do?"

"We're going to see Dr. Cain about a small matter."

"Small matter? Of what?"

"Why should you care?"

"Well-"

"Now you've given me your payment, have you not? So what does it matter to you how you get promoted? Just that you get promoted."

"Janus, I don't want to hurt anybody in this."

Oblivious, Janus replied, "Why, at the end, you may become the new commander."

"No!" Duplex yelped. He checked himself and returned to a normal voice, stepping front of Janus and putting a hand on his chest. "No, I don't want to be commander."

"Why not? Thought you wanted to get advanced in rank. Can't get much more advanced than that," Janus slyly smirked.

"I don't want to be a commander. I just want a few grades higher, just to get some more privileges."

"Why not?"

"I don't want that much responsibility..."

"Aha!" The _ping_ sounded and the elevator doors opened. Janus stepped out and looked around. It was essentially the same as the other hallway, bathed in dirty yellow. "You see, you are want of courage, steadfastness. Those who take the risks get the rewards. Let me let you in on a little secret. Risks are almost always worth it and they almost always pay off. You just need to know how to manipulate the circumstances so they fall into your favor." He looked back and forth for anyone in the hall. It was clear, as it should have been - this was the human's personal quarters. Janus walked straight down the corridor. "That's why Strike Fox and Straylight are top in class. They're always trying to outdo each other, taking the risks and grabbing that brass ring." Janus stopped in front of a door.

"What does that mean?" Duplex asked.

"I've no idea. Humans and their expressions." Janus looked up at the top of the door, waiting for someone to answer. He started pressing it anxiously and repeatedly. "Act frenetic," Janus advised, slighting his hand back to Duplex.

Duplex was frustrated with confusion. The obtuse manner Janus was speaking in was overloading his mind, but he was afraid to ask him anything more, afraid he might get another harsh answer.

"Is he not here?" Janus touched the glossy panel next to the door. "Where is Dr. Cain?"

The panel displayed a line of dots trailing back and forth as it searched for Cain on the tracking system. It lit up in orange-yellow letters **'DR. CAIN IS IN LAB B'**.

"Figures," Janus said to no one in particular. "At this time of night. Humans have no sense of their limits."

The gray reploid turned around and headed back to the elevator. Duplex snuck behind, rubbing his hands together nervously and shifting his eyes.

"Why- why do we want Dr. Cain?"

"Why not? Have something against him?"

"No, I just want to know what it is you're planning."

"You cannot know what sort of thoughts are in my head, even if my memory was in your hands."

Again the elevator doors opened and again they stepped in. This time, it dropped sharply to the basement level. Labs were built down here because the space underground was plentiful and economic, just as long as the area was excavated first. Plus, they were sectioned off from most of the complex in case there were any explosions or major containment leaks or from a Maverick invasion, protecting valuable secrets.

The elevator dropped them off at the hallway where the walls were slit metallic instead of the soothing taupe paneling of the living quarters. Janus touched them idly, running a finger down the block line that gave illumination.

"Run," Janus commanded.

He took off at frantic sprint down the hall. Duplex watched him tear away, dumbfounded as to what was going on. Realizing that he couldn't answer so far behind, he picked up his squat little body and started chugging after him. His top-heavy frame wobbled side to side as he pumped his stubby legs.

Janus burst through the double doors of the laboratory. A collection of scientists and research reploids were surrounding a giant cannon-like machine in the middle of the room and a panel with colored squares flashing. General Brandle was there, making adjustments to the switchboard against the wall. He was the chief of the human military presence in MHHQ, which accounted for about half the support staff, the other consisting of reploid soldiers and a smattering of scientists and technicians. His sun damaged face resembled a stone bust.

"General!" Janus ran right to him and made puffing noises, simulating that he was out of breath. "General? Where's Dr. Cain?"

"He was called to an emergency meeting. Why?" At the same height, Brandle looked Janus square in the eye, somewhat angered at his time being broken up.

Janus slowed his breath down. "I'm not sure I should tell you, sir. It's not such a matter that you can do much about."

"Speak, reploid. If you have something to say, say it. Don't just interrupt my work for no good reason."

"Is the computer system still online?"

"What? Of course it is! Don't you see it?" he gestured to the gigantic blackboard flushed with lights.

"Is the data still intact? Have we been compromised?"

"What the devil are you blathering about?"

Duplex tumbled through the double doors, stumbling up to the two. Janus barely took notice of him.

"You again. Is this another case of crying wolf?" The general's cheeks turned red and his brow furrowed.

Janus said, "This is a definite problem, General. Duplex confirmed it for me."

The general addressed Duplex directly, looking at him as if he were disciplining a child. "I've told you before. If you have a problem, do not come to me - report to your senior officer. Chain of command!"

"Uh, er-" Duplex stammered. "Sir, what Janus says is true. Um, we thought it was too... too important to, uh, respect the chain of command."

"Just tell me exactly what's going on!"

Janus interjected, "We caught Zero hacking into the computer system. We thought he may have gone Maverick, but it's not exactly a textbook sign. We found he's created a privileged account under his name. It uses a shell script to deprioritize the permissions on his files and his status each time he accesses it. Well, essentially it gives him superuser level all over the network. He didn't do this under proper authorization either. He hacked into the system, created his account, and logged out. We have the log files to prove it."

Janus presented a disk to the general he had in his storage and promptly inserted it in the nearest terminal and opened the sole file full of text. He skimmed down the lines at a pace no human could gather any information.

"Here, at the end," Janus pointed to speed up the process. "Note the timestamp." Janus smirked as the general bent down and peered at the screen.

"These could've been altered, couldn't they?" Brandle said.

"I assure you, I checked for alteration and they were clean. You may discharge me if I am lying."

"Me too," Duplex piped up.

"What if you are lying? How do I know?"

"Sir, I'm a Maverick Hunter. What reason do I have to lie?"

General Brandle frowned and turned back to the console. He carefully read the lines of code, his eyes moving slowly back and forth. Janus waited patiently with his arms crossed.

"Get security," he commanded quietly. "Find Zero! Find Cain! Something has to be done about this!" He rose and looked throughout the room. "Are you listening?" The scientists and reploids in the room halted and looked around with wide glassy eyes. They dumbly stared at the general, since they were not used to such firm military discipline.

"Get the troops! Apprehend Zero! On the double!"

Scientists began scrambling around, having no idea what to do about the general's orders. Janus thought of how so much of human history was being demonstrated in the room right now.

General Brandle ran over to the central panel and picked up his communicator. "Lieutenant Byers. Come in. What is your current location?"

Janus turned to Duplex while the chaos surrounded them. "I must leave you now."

"What? Why?" Duplex's eyes pleaded with him to stay.

"I've started you off here, but now I must go to finish it."

"Why must you always speak in riddles? Say what you have to say."

"Duplex, you know me better than that.That's not my style. General Brandle just said there was an emergency meeting. That can only mean Mavericks. I've got to go rouse our commander to these events."

"What? Zero? But-"

"Believe me, I have no love for the reploid, but I still have to pretend I do. He should be in his diagnostic chamber now. Meet us there when the time is right." Janus walked out of the lab, unnoticed by anyone.

Duplex heard Brandle click off his communicator and turned back to Duplex. "The account's definitely there," the general said, fury marring his face. "And it's got superuser access. Now the entire computer defense system has been compromised. We'll have to build it again from the ground up." He began running back and forth from console to console sporadically, guided by his erratic thoughts. "Feh, firewalls, ID's, passwords, it's all meaningless junk. How did you know of this? Check if the data has been altered. See if there're any attempts to alter the databases. What do you think Zero's intentions are?"

"I'm not sure, sir." Duplex fidgeted, unsure of how to act as the general barked orders and asked rhetorical questions. He felt very intimidated right now with military personnel running back and forth, caught in a torrent of humans.

"This is madness, Duplex. Why should we allow robots access to computers, when they are computers themselves. They have the know-how to hack in and bring down everything. It's like giving an insane man a bazooka. Far too much freedom. We allow them far too much. We're dependent on our communication network. If it goes, we go. If it gets hijacked, all our asses are handed to us. It's hard enough beating back those damn things without them having more advantages over us."

Duplex was unsure whether he should be defending his race or supporting the general's opinions. He touched his fingertips together nervously and kept his mouth shut.

Brandle continued, "At this point, I'd rather a snivel like you be in command. At least you're loyal to the cause. Zero, I don't trust. An unknown past leads to an unknown future, I always say. Where is that bastard anyway? Reploids don't sleep. Find him, for Christ's sake. I want answers."

Duplex raised his finger. Surprisingly, the easily distracted general paid attention to him. "Sir, I think I know where Zero is, if you'll follow me."

"Lead the way, little guy. If this turns out all right, I'll make sure you get a commendation for this." Duplex's mouth spread to a grin, unseen by any as he opened the lab doors. The general turned to the soldiers gathered behind him. "Make sure your weapons are ready. No telling what we can expect from him."


	2. Act I, Scene 2

**ACT I, Scene 2**

"Ow, ow, ow, not so fast, my head's dizzy."

"Sorry, sir, it's just kind of important."

Zero let himself be led down the darkened hall as Janus pulled him by the hand. The red reploid rubbed his eyes sleepily. Janus had activated the emergency disconnect on his diagnostic chamber to get him out. It took quite a toll on his sensors, being jacked out like that with no warning, like being shaken out of a personality. "Wait," Zero said, "So Duplex turned me into the general for what now?"

"He specifically mentioned your user account access. I'll tell you, sir. I've never heard anyone prattle and practice on about your faults and flaws. I may be a soldier, but I am no murderer. Yet, in his presence, it took all my restraint to stop from thrashing him proper."

"Who is Duplex again?"

"Round, yellow-gold reploid."

"Okay."

Janus stopped for a moment as he approached another hallway and dropped Zero's hand, looking for signs of the general. Zero took the opportunity to try and wake himself up by shaking his head violently. "I wish I drank coffee," he muttered.

"Tell me, sir, is it true? Because if it is, the commander-in-chief will surely seek to retire you. Probably on the spot with about forty cannons. He is the leader of military here after all. The lawmakers will likely look upon his word as true rather than yours, because he is human."

"Whatever. Let him do whatever he can. If he can prove I did any wrong I'm a mettool. He doesn't know a bit from a byte when it comes to technology. He only understands the equipment that says 'point, shoot, repeat'."

Janus laughed lightly. "True, sir." Janus stopped at a junction of another hallway. "Sir, look sharp, I think they're coming this way. Maybe you should hide?"

"Have I ever run away from a fight? I've stood my ground before and I'll stand my ground now."

"Wait, I think it might be..."

Mega Man X and some other Maverick Hunters following him marched up from the other end of the T-section hallway. Zero's friend seemed to be awake and alert.

"X? What are you doing here?" Zero asked.

"Cain sent for me, he wanted me to get you up. Mavericks are probably on the move again."

"Where do you think? The power plant?"

X nodded grimly. "We've sent out a few scouts. I don't know if they've come back yet or not. In any case, we've been called for. Good thing we don't need sleep."

"Yeah, but being cold-started out of the diagnostic chamber sure wrecks your startup."

"Cold-started? Say, what are you doing up anyway? I expected to find you in your chamber."

"There he is! Stop him!" the general, down the center hallway, pointed to Zero. The gold sheen of Duplex gleamed off the general's floodlight. Six or seven uniformed troops stood behind him, plasma weapons still holstered.

"The general seems to be in a bad mood," Janus leaned in and whispered to X.

Brandle shouted, "Zero, freeze! Arrest him. Use force if you have to."

Zero stepped back defensively into a defiant fighting stance, not willing to be handled like a piece of haywire machinery. The other reploids with him followed suit.

Janus looked to his golden friend and pointed. "Duplex, you're mine." He winked, letting him know he was faking. If a fight broke out, Janus and Duplex could stay out of the fracas.

"You'll live a lot longer," Zero said. "If you keep your guns holstered."

The general stepped forward and slashed his hand in the air. "You impudent robot. You damned thing. How dare you try to hack into the system? You used that computer voodoo of yours to try and gain superuser access. Maybe you want to give the Mavericks all the secrets of our base, huh? You've put the entire human nation at risk. I'll make sure you're decommissioned for this. Put him in custody. If he resists, kill him."

"Hold up," Zero put his hand up. "Superuser access? Don't you think if I'd wanted to bring down the network, I'd have done it by now? And done a lot better job of it? And been gone by now? Let's think about this with a cool head, general. If this was the time for fighting, I'd know it."

"You can't arrest him," X interjected. "Cain just sent me to get Zero because of a possible Maverick attack."

"An attack, now?"

"Yes, now."

"Fine, then. We'll go bring this to Cain. He'll want to hear what I have to say anyway. Bring him on. We'll go, all of us."


	3. Act I, Scene 3

**ACT I, Scene 3**

A technician walked around the table, carrying a stack of documents. He nearly tripped over a wire coming out from the ground and mildly cursed. The room's lights were turned out to give the holographic emitter more contrast. It was an unfortunate effect that the table they used to display CAD/CAM data had such poor illumination, but their budget couldn't afford the new SP model.

The scientist plopped the stack next to Dr. Cain and went back to get more. Cain tapped his cane against the floor as he studied the printouts. "This makes no sense. One report says six Maverick reploids, the other says twelve."

"Mine says fourteen," Dr. Addison interrupted.

"Nonetheless, we must count on a number larger than what the reports estimate. At least we know they're all headed to the power plant."

"I disagree." Dr. Fremont typed into the keypad on his side of the emitter, manipulating the image. "See how this valley connects with the old factory? I think they must be going there."

"Preposterous," Dr. Addison said. "The old factory isn't of nearly as much value as the power plant."

"Wait," Dr. Cain held up his hand to the group while he looked at the computer screen. His personal monitor scrolled through lines of text.

"One of the B.E.A.T.s has sighted some shapes going towards the factory." He punched some more commands in and presented them to the topograph. Some black spheres with question marks showed up and moved into the valley. They stopped shortly where the terrain branched off on the side closest to the factory. He turned to the other two with a raised eyebrow, in question of what to do next.

The two doctors crouched over the emitter, deep in thought.

Dr. Addison said, "We cannot assume that the Mavericks are truly going to the factory. The power plant is of much more importance strategy-wise. If there are only shapes being sighted then we don't really have ocular proof that Mavericks really are taking the plant. Plus, the plant has a G4 power transformer, extremely valuable."

"Wait," Dr. Cain declared, still at the console, still receiving cryptically coded lines of information. "There are more reploids around the factory. More info's coming in. I think... I think they're joining their allies. They must be congregating there and then moving to the plant. They're not going through the valley at all. They're going right over it."

"Of course not," Dr. Addison threw up his hands, "Why would they need to. The security on the power plant is meant for humans who would go through the valley. Mavericks don't care about environmental strategy."

Dr. Fremont wheeled his swivel chair to a console in a corner. "Rally the troops. We head to the plant at dawn."

Cain sighed and twisted his cane into the floor as the scientists scampered to communication consoles to assemble the soldiers. "Another battle," he whispered sadly.

An extremely loud rapping came at the door. "Dr. Cain? Are you in there?" came the muffled voice of Zero.

"Enter," the doctor commanded the doors.

Zero, X, the general, and a host of troops and Maverick Hunters entered, filling the meeting room to near capacity. The scientists huddled together at the collection of brawn.

Cain swiveled his chair towards them. "Zero, we need you to prep for battle by dawn. Oh, General Brandle, what are you doing here? We could have used your expertise earlier."

The general stormed up to the table and slammed his fist down through the hologram. The doctors' eyes widened as they saw an expensive piece of technology throttled like a child's toy.

"So could I!" he yelled gruffly. "But my problem is significantly more important than your idle prattle. Our system has been compromised."

"Huh?" the equally bewildered scientist said.

"Corrupted, gone berserk, haywire, Maverick! By all the chins in China we've been done in!"

Cain furrowed his brows. "If that's true, then we would have noticed something about that, wouldn't we?" Dr. Addison said.

"Not necessarily," Dr. Cain added. "What's your evidence?"

"Him!" He pointed behind him to a bewildered Zero. "He's the one that's done it! We'll all be killed because of him in a matter of minutes. Order his arrest now!"

The scientists looked at General Brandle confusedly. "Could you tell us what's been done exactly?" Dr. Fremont asked.

"Well...oh," Brandle remembered and dug into his pocket and produced the disk. "Here it is. Here's the knife that's been plunged into our backs. It's all there in black and white."

Dr. Cain took the disk from Brandle and inserted it into a panel next to the console. Bringing it up, he observed, "This is a log file."

"I know," Cain said, stating what was obvious to him. He took a brief glance at the multitude of text. "Would you like to tell me what's on it so I don't spend hours and hours searching?"

"It details how Zero," he paused to emphasize the name, "Created a privileged account for himself that gives him access to s-superuser...no, superuser access all over the network."

"At what time index?" Cain asked.

"What?"

"Where in the file?"

General Brandle stammered, "Uh... somewhere in the bottom."

"Gentlemen, if I could say something?" Zero said.

"Feh, traitor," the general muttered and rolled his eyes as he spoke.

"It is true that I created my own privileged account and hacked into the system server to do it. Now, I'm not a great scientist or well versed in computer technology. I'm a Maverick Hunter, and I've been one for nearly all my life. I'm not a security tech, so I didn't cover my tracks well. And I didn't intend to. I just tweaked the permissions on my account. I didn't do that to bring down the system. And I'll tell you why and how if you give me a chance."

"Computers are delicate pieces of equipment," the general said, "They can't be toyed with. You have to go through channels to create system accounts. This is a vile disregard of protocol and everyone knows it."

Cain said, "This is hardly what I'd call irrefutable proof that Zero is a full-blown hacker." He turned away from the console. "Zero, please continue."

"So far everyone's been accusing me and no one really wants to hear the truth. In fact, I haven't done a damn thing wrong. Have you seen the way this system is set up? You can't access a text file without needing three passwords. So I changed my own account. The problem is we're so damn paranoid about Mavericks hacking in here that everything's bordered up to the point of inaccessibility. Even you must've seen the blockers and bumpers, the ASC, filters, scanners. They slow the system down to a crawl. I can't even play a game of minesweeper. It was the only way to get anything done."

Cain put a hand to his chin. "Well, I suppose you have a good point there. I can find the security system hampering at times too. It certainly seems overloaded with programs."

X stepped into the conversation. "We all know the security measures are extreme, but we need them. The propensity of Mavericks is to attack technology systems where they're weakest. It's better than having no access. But I know Zero well. I was there when he created his account. He's invulnerable to Maverick status, we all know that. Same as me. I hold as much loyalty to him as I do to the human race. I pledged to serve and protect and so did he. I think this might just be a case of misunderstanding between human ways and reploid ways."

Dr. Cain rubbed his long white beard. "All right, I'm going to allow it. But I want full access to your account."

"I'll do that as soon as possible," Zero nodded.

General Brandle lunged forward, shaking his fist in the doctor's face. "You fool, you can't possibly think this is all right! This is a breach of security, clear and simple."

"It's fine. Zero's the only who can access the account, and we haven't had an internal breach of security for a while." Cain could see the general was still fuming. "General Brandle, let me give you a piece of advice I heard in school: when someone gets the better of you, don't let your angered feelings stew."

"Oh, that's very clever Dr. Cain. I have one for you too. 'When your job is to keep the peace, don't make business with reploid thiefs'." He turned on his heel and walked out of the room. His military troops followed him, leaving only scientists and reploids in the room.

"'Thiefs' doesn't really rhyme with 'peace'," X pointed out.

"Isn't it supposed to be 'thieves', not 'theifs'?" Zero added.

"Enough. Grammar lesson later." Dr. Cain waved his hand to dismiss the entire issue. "We've got Mavericks to worry about." He motioned them up to the center table. Zero and X took foremost positions, with the others looking over their shoulders.

"The power plant?" X asked as Cain got out his laser pointer.

"Right. We estimate eighteen or more Mavericks in there. Its security system is not exactly up to par due to budget cuts, but they've probably rendered it useless by now anyway."

"Well, at least that means it won't try to attack us," X commented.

Cain continued, "We're preparing our mobile command units. We need to gather the proper Maverick Hunter divisions and head out immediately. We'll be there by dawn."

"I'm ready to go now," Zero said, pumping a fist in the air, apparently recovered from his sleepiness. "Just need to gear up."

"X, are you going on this mission?" Dr. Cain asked. "It should only be a clean-and-sweep."

"Most definitely," Zero interjected. He and X had been inseparable partners in battle ever since the Dr. Doppler incident.

"I can handle myself equally to Zero," X said.

"Fine, then. Prep your systems. Let's get rolling."

Zero turned to leave and noticed Janus standing there in the background. "Janus, rouse your division commander, tell him what's going on."

"Yes, sir," he saluted.

Zero, X, and the other reploids left the room. "Let's set that account up for Cain before we have to go," the red one said as the door closed behind them.

Dr. Cain, Fremont, and Addison gathered their things. "Gentlemen, sorry to deprive you of more sleep, but we must get that MCP online first thing."

"Not a problem," Fremont said.

"Ugh," Dr. Addison said, "My wife is gonna kill me." He turned off the emitter and left as well, leaving Janus and Duplex the two sole occupants. The two looked around the empty room awkwardly, as if waiting for more people to show up, waiting for someone to break the silence.

"Well," Duplex said and shrugged, "What do we do now?"

"Now? ... I think I'll go back and relax before dawn," Janus smirked. "You?"

"I think I'll retire myself."

"What?"

"You saw them. They ignored me, they ignored you. I was promised a commendation by the general if everything turned out all right, but I lost it. We didn't accomplish anything. I just got yelled at. Again. Why shouldn't I want to have myself deactivated?"

"Because deactivation is for bad computers and faulty antiques. Do you know what we just proved?"

"What? We proved something?"

"Sure. We proved that Zero is clearly the favorite son. He's untouchable. He can do no wrong. Now, if you retire yourself, they win. This isn't about you lamenting how little pull you have in the system. It's about whether you have pull in the system at all. It's about whether you have the willpower to succeed. Your emotions are something you can take off and put on like honor. Therefore, I say prepare for success, prepare for the future. Soon, the leaders will stand up and notice your valor, therefore prepare for success. If you prepare for success, success will follow you. We are all what we want to be. If X and Zero want to be untouchable, they will be. But that doesn't mean they're invincible. So, prepare for success. X and Zero were born into violence, and violence will undo them. So make all the money you can. Forget about deactivation. A silly notion."

"Then will you still support me?"

"I will. Mark my words, Zero and X will pay. I've told you before how much I hate them. So no more talk of deactivation?"

"No more."

"Prepare for success."

"I will."

"All right?"

"All right," Duplex mumbled.

"We ride at dawn, my friend. Get your stuff together."

"Right," Duplex said, somewhat despairingly. He turned and left the room.

* * *

_REC SYSTEM 1.2  
Copyright © 2105, 2109, 2114 _

_Real Mem 8192 TB  
Avail Mem 32768 TB _

_Primary Data Cache 512 KB  
Primary Inst Cache 768 KB  
Secondary Cache 32768KB _

_Testing file system...  
Testing files...  
OK! _

_Login: janus221347  
Pass: _

_Welcome! _

_Janus2214347> new log -nx _

_Created new logfile 6/26/21XX829567 _

_Duplex may prepare for success. Too bad he doesn't know whose. The one truth I have told him is of my hatred for the crimson commander. If I should ever be seen with Zero, making merry and amiable, then retire me. I saw his privileged account as I snuck through the computer pathways, broke through the ice that encased secret files, and then I knew. That wretch thought it was allowable to make his access unlimited because he's outgrown his own ambition. And the executives accepted it. He's reached the top of his game and now he can't go any further. He's trying to be better than the best. But it's hard to keep your balance when you're at the apex of a tower. He'll fall eventually, and his ego won't be there to catch him. Whether all this is true or not, I don't know. But I'll pretend like it is for the sake of my own hatred. The difficulty is 'how'. How will Zero fall? How? ... X and Zero are partners at the top. They hold loyalty to each other most of all. So much they trust each other without question. _

_That's it. I have it. _


	4. Act II, Scene 1

**ACT II, Scene 1**

Occasionally, a bright flash of light would burst out from one of the windows. That was the only visual information that could be gleaned about the Maverick battle. The MCP, or Mobile Command Post, had a plethora of other sensor readings - infra-red, X-ray, light enhancement, heat, and sonic. With all this though, Cain still cursed his inability to see inside the fortress, to know what his soldiers were doing, who was dying and who was injured. Despite their pat manner in the strategizing room, the actual battle was anything but. These wars were heart-wrenching to watch. Several injured Mavericks and Maverick Hunters were crawling on hands and knees outside the plant, but they couldn't risk sending outeither medics until they were close enough, or teleportation until they far enough away. So all he could do was watch their tattered bodies scuttling on the wasteland, still fighting with limbless torsos. It was reploid versus reploid down there. Cain felt like he was seeing his children get slaughtered.

"Lina, can you scan the ID tags?"

Lina, a human, was operating a complicated switchboard below Cain's elevated platform. "Not quite sir, there are at least thirteen hunters still active." She pressed the telecomm device in her ear to secure it as her head whipped back and forth. Her hands moved quickly and smoothly as she pressed buttons and adjusted monitors. "The rest are masked behind interference. We're essentially sitting here blind. And I wouldn't recommend moving forward."

"Just so." Cain commented. The Mobile Command Post was just that - mobile. The MHHQ rolling arsenal consisted of several of these. To someone on the outside they resembled widened lookout towers housed in metal, slotted with windows, and attached to tank treads. They acted as a portable base and comm center during territorial battles, when they had to coordinate attacks of large numbers of hunters.

There was a silence in the MCP as the two tried to make sense out of their sparse information. Quiet, muffled sounds of the skirmishes and bursts sporadically popped outside their windows.

Lina said, "They sure do like to take over power plants a lot, don't they, sir."

Cain chuckled. "Yes, I guess they do. Never thought about it before."

A support reploid climbed up the ladder to the command center room. He looked basically humanoid with a green and yellow armor suit and a matching helmet with a blue-tinted visor attached.

"I've got news. What's going on in here?" he said.

Lina said, "Hey, Tyro. We don't know much. The best info we've got is from the scope."

"The Mavericks have been cornered." Tyro took his place at Cain's right console symmetrical to Lina, "In the left tower."

Dr. Cain immediately turned his cameras to the tower, the tallest spire in the complex. It was capped with a cylinderand a radial antenna. There were no windows inside so they couldn't see in, and the sensors were just as unhelpful. Cain waited patiently for something significant to happen.

And something did. A gigantic fire-orange explosion enveloped the tower. Bright white light washed into the room and monitors. The three turned away from the sudden radiance. Dr. Cain brought his arms up to his face. "Holy Christ!" Tyro declared.

Cain brought his limbs down as the light faded. Black smoke billowed out from the broken tower. "Nobody could've survived that," he said.

"At least no normal reploid," Lina corrected as she suddenly remembered the Mavericks that had been resurrected. Lina turned up the definition on her scanners. Maybe now the interference would go away. "I can't make out anything. Dammit, this is so frustrating." Lina slammed her hand on the control panel.

"Wait, over there!" Tyro shouted.

"Where?"

"At the entrance to the plant. You see?"

Cain recalibrated the camera to the front entrance. The doors flew open and reploids began rushing out of double doors.

"There's our boys," Cain said excitedly. He hit the comm button. "Med-evac, get ready. Repair systems to full. Get our boys home."

Support staff rushed out of the MCP area, carrying boxes and repair supplies. The Maverick Hunters looked in pretty good condition overall. Cain was pleased.

"I don't see where X and Zero are though," Lina commented.

Cain looked again. "There he is. See, he's waving." Cain centered his camera on the blue-armored android. X made a victory sign with his two fingers when he noticed Cain's camera on him.

The doctor relaxed back in his seat. "Good old X, always seems to come out in one piece."

X walked through the pods of injured reploids, being unhurt himself, just exhausted from fighting. He took a moment to look at the fellow hunters around him, some struggling to escape the fiery power plant. Whoever said reploids had no emotions, that they felt no pain, had yet to see one of these Maverick battles up close, to see what really went on here. In this one, they were fortunate. No one had anything that couldn't be repaired. All they had to do was clean out the Mavericks, prevent them from setting up shop in the plant, from gaining a foothold. It had been a small victory but a decisive one. Still, X had that nagging feeling that it all could've been avoided somehow. The feeling had found him in nearly every battle, so often that he expected it now, like a scheduled reminder.

X wandered in between the troops taking the field and grabbed hold of the rung of the ladder into the MCP. Typing some commands into the panel above his head, he undid the hatch and entered the sectioned-off part of the room in back. Fresh air puffed into the compartment.

"X!" Lina turned as X hoisted himself into the room, "Good to see you," she quick turned back to her monitor.

"Where's Zero?" Cain asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. Our strategy was to corner them all into the top tower. One of them caused a chain reaction, it ended up combusting the lot of them. It was a narrow escape, but we all survived." It was pretty nasty, as X recalled. One Maverick panicked and all the rest of them suffered the sacrifice.

"What a quick victory," Tyro commented.

"I'm pretty confident Zero is still in there, and he's okay. Probably finishing up the job." X climbed up next to Cain and looked over his shoulder at the monitors. He smelled of hot oil and gas.

"A saber? Was that a saber?" Tyro yelped and practically jumped out of his seat. "Through the window?"

"Maybe," Lina said.

"Don't send any hunters inside to get him," Cain said, "I don't want to risk soldiers in case there are any more explosions or exposure to the virus."

X suddenly leaned down to Lina's station. "Lina, did you do a scan for the virus?"

"Nope." X's eyes widened. She corrected herself, "I mean, no, there was no evidence of freeborn Maverick virus that I could detect."

"Okay, good. Keep an eye on it. We still don't know how it's communicated." X thought maybe through constant scans they'd be able to tell how the Maverick virus traversed from reploid to reploid. There were so many precautions set up that were nothing but a smokescreen to assuage fear in the camp.

The entrance hatch flipped open and Janus and Duplex climbed into the MCP. X turned his attention to them for a moment as they stepped up to Cain's platform. "Report from Commander Zero, sir," Janus said and saluted. "Zero is still inside the power plant, in good condition. He's searching for any Mavericks that may have survived. The transporter scrambler is out of commission so he can teleport out at the first sign of trouble, or if the plant reaches critical."

"Good, acknowledged," X said.

"Well, it's good to be able to relax now," Dr. Cain said. "I thought this was going to be the beginning of another all-out war."

Lina typed into her control panel. "Systems are not yet reporting that the field is safe for teleportation... oh, wait, yes it is. Hee hee, oops."

"What 'oops'?" Cain asked.

"I just didn't switch my scan filters on. Sorry."

Janus peered over Lina's shoulder and put a hand on the back of her chair. "If the computer system is too difficult for you to understand, I suggest some training courses. Human error can be very costly in battle."

Lina looked back at the gray reploid without turning her head. Duplex stood behind him, idle as usual. "Thank you Janus, but I think I know the system better than you. Just go back to blasting things."

"Lina, behave yourself. Janus, mind your place," Cain disciplined.

Janus huffed and stepped away. "I am very mindful of my place, thank you very much. A low rung on the ladder of war. Thrust into any job that could have me, while she gets to sit here in the aerie and make mistakes."

"Oh, we'd let you sit here, but we're afraid you'd talk us all to sleep," Lina smirked. Janus just scowled.

Tyro laughed heartily at Lina's zinger. "What's the matter, Janus? Don't like hunting with humans? If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd gone Maverick. Cause if you have, you're not a very good one," he smirked.

"Not at all, sir, I just have a thing against inept humans."

Lina thought it best to keep her mouth shut and pay attention to her control panel.

X said, "Come on, Janus, you know we couldn't survive without humans in the post."

"No, of course not. I could never survive without typographically errored reports, broken down machinery, miscommunication, not to mention the budgetary allocations for food, clothing, shelter, first-aid-"

"Remind me not to have you write my obituary," Lina laughed. X did as well.

"Your obituary... hmm, how would that go?" Janus pondered sarcastically. "'Here lies Lina Rowe, her skill was always touch-and-go'."

"Pfft," Lina scoffed and rolled her eyes. Mega Man X snickered at, if nothing else, the wit of it.

"How about me?" Tyro asked as he leaned back in his chair to look at him.

"Oh, please. I'd really rather not," Janus said.

"Come on, we're waiting for Zero anyway. Do me! Do me!"

"Fine, let me put my gears to work here." Janus put his fingers to his head like he was concentrating hard on receiving a psychic vision. 'Below rests the earnest Tyro, experience in short supply though'."

"Ooh, burn," Lina laughed. "How about Dr. Cain?"

"'Cain lived in scholarly ways, but ended in a senile daze'."

Again, the small crowd laughed at Janus' rhyme.

"You have no shame, Janus," Lina said.

"How about X?" Tyro said.

"'Here lies the mighty X, Upon whom there was a mighty hex, Cursed with a cannon on his hand, And strife throughout the reploid land, Fighting Mavericks who would defy, And never really knowing why, He had to blast them all to dust, But fight he did cause fight he must, Until one day, he met his end, By the trait-'"

X waited for him to finish the line. "Well?"

"By the blast he could not defend."

The group stayed silent at Janus' long and eerily accurate foretelling. "Heh," X surmised, breaking the tension. "You can certainly talk well, but Mavericks don't really care if you can recite Keats in the middle of a firefight." X stepped down off the platform and up to the gray reploid. "And I'd watch what you say in public. Don't want to be accused of being Maverick, do you? We all know what happened last time... with Double."

X left the common room into one of the side compartments. As Janus watched him pass bya sly smile crept over his face. He brought a finger to his chin deep in thought.

"Zero's coming out!" Lina exclaimed.

"At last," Cain said.

Janus looked through the window at Lina's station. Down below, Zero was indeed walking out of the power plant, and looking ravaged. His red and white armor was burnt and scratched. The long blond hair under his helmet was clumped from oil and other fluids. His right arm had a severe tear in the protective covering, and he favored his right leg. But his face had that determined look on it, the look of a feral warrior, and his beam saber was still at the ready. After he surveyed the gray field outside the power plant, where the clean-up crew was still working, he retracted the green energy blade into the hilt and holstered it. All in the MCP tracked him as he managed his way through the debris and up into the tank.

Zero climbed in, passing by Janus and Duplex and approached the elevated doctor who spun around to talk face-to-face. "Commander Zero checking in, sir." Zero saluted. "Victory has been achieved. There's no more threat to the power plant."

"There's barely any power plant," Cain remarked. "What was that massive explosion?"

"That was the power transformer, unfortunately, sir. One of the lesser ranked Mavericks panicked, took it upon himself to sacrifice it in order to protect it."

"I see. All the Mavericks are accounted for?"

"There were twenty-four in total, twelve of them Docs."

Docs were a colloquialism for 'Doc Robots', named from the technology that allowed the 'cloning' of complex robots and reploids. It copied attack A.I. and physical construction, but little else, including personality. They were named for the Doc Robot technology invented a century ago.

"I see. And how about your injuries?"

"Better than they look. I'll get all cleaned up after we leave."

"All right then, I'll order all non-essential personnel to pull out. We'll leave it at that."

Zero turned and walked down the steps. "Janus," he pointed, "You're in charge of clean-up." He passed by and climbed down the ladder out of the post. He was going to take one of the retreating mobile units back to get repaired and take it easy.

"Yes, sir," he muttered quietly.

Dr. Cain turned back to the console. "Janus, we're going to be moving the MCP pretty soon. Go out and oversee the clean-up." Lina and Tyro had their backs to him as well.

"Yes, sir," Janus made a little bow and gestured to Duplex to follow him as well. They went down the ladder and onto the pebbled valley, rocks crunching underneath their padded treads.

Janus kneeled down and rolled around an abandoned helmet, cracked open on the side. "First, Duplex, I must confess something to you. Should even ten men fall in the line of duty, you would not be promoted."

"Wh- what?" he stammered. "I don't get- what- ?"

"Keep your tongue and listen to my instructions." He started walking toward the power plant, passing by soldiers and medics getting their gear together and heading out. "There can be no doubt X and Zero are the finest Maverick Hunters ever. They're at the top of their game. Where one fails, the other succeeds. X's pacifism is replaced by Zero's heroics. Zero's ferocity is subdued by X's humanism. While they are together, they cannot be defeated." Janus turned back and waved the incoming reploids onto the field, coming in to repair the power plant and make general clean up of anything left over.

Janus continued, "However, strong they are, despite all they do to protect the humans, they can never win. Why? Because they fight against what they are. The reploids are their true enemy. Isn't that ironic?"

"I suppose."

"They know it just as well as we. Soon they'll get tired of fighting an endless war. The fight's already getting to him. Did you see how paranoid X behaved in the cockpit? His irrational fear of the spread of the Maverick virus among us?"

"I don't think he was that irrational."

Janus quickly turned to Duplex, stopping those thoughts before they could develop. "No one is so worried about something that can't be tracked and can't be identified. He was practically jumping at the thought of being infected. He's clearly nervous about having one of his own turned into a monster he mustdefeat. He must still be guilt-racked from before. Now he believes he can't trust anyone. Anyone could turn at anytime, the mystery of the virus." Janus picked up a broken chunk of metal, an unidentifiable piece of Maverick. "Irrational or no, X has reservations." He tossed it back on the ground.

"Soooo... what should we do?"

Janus smiled. "Here's what you'll do tomorrow night. X will be walking through the halls. Use your ability and strike him, tap him on the shoulder or such."

"You know my Star Cloak isn't exactly flawless. There is still a vague outline of me-"

"Oh, that's what I'm counting on. X will find you and try to apprehend you. Obviously, don't let him do it. Struggle, fight, whatever it takes."

"What if he destroys me?"

"He won't. X is a pacifist at heart. He won't kill you."

"What if I accidentally kill him?"

"Huh," Janus suppressed a chuckle. "You won't kill X, trust me."

"So how is this supposed to help me?"

"Can't you see? You will be found to obviously not be a Maverick. X's attack will be unprovoked and he'll be discredited, perhaps discommended for attacking a fellow officer."

"Ah, I see," Duplex nodded. "So instead of bringing me up, we'll be bringing them down. I like it. I'll make sure I have something special in your inbox at my first opportunity."

Janus nodded. "I must tend to my duties now. Go about your business and meet at the workroom at seven tonight."

Duplex's path bent around to the side of the power plant where he would join some other sweepers. The facilities' large double doors opened like a maw. The gray reploid led those behind him into the dark hole.

* * *

_REC SYSTEM 1.2  
Copyright © 2105, 2109, 2114 _

_Real Mem 8192 TB  
Avail Mem 32768 TB _

_Primary Data Cache 512 KB  
Primary Inst Cache 768 KB  
Secondary Cache 32768KB _

_Testing file system...  
Testing files...  
OK! _

_Login: janus221347  
Pass: _

_Welcome! _

_Janus2214347> new log -nx _

_Created new logfile 6/27/21XX 362734 _

_When the truth is finally seen, I wonder what sort of motives they'll attach to me. Surely they could not think that I harbor malice to those in a higher rank than me. I do not wish to be Zero's partner nor X's. Jealousy and lust for power are Duplex's department. Zero and X are fine leaders indeed. I love them to death... as the tools they play in my game. It cannot be that I am prejudiced against humans, for, despite my mocking earlier today, I find I can hardly blame them for their faults anymore than I could blame reploids for theirs, for our parts can be equally as faulty. Probably most will dub me Maverick and write it off as such, a glitch by design. Whoever tries to find my reason will discover a dead end indeed. By judgment I cannot care. My time is too short for such worries. I shall not rest until X is made a complete ass. Zero's decline won't be too far behind. Neither is a real target, yet by skewering one I shall impale the other, like ducks in a row. _


	5. Act II, Scene 2

**ACT II, Scene 2**

_Code: 8A34F15E813D45B64C387  
To: staff.masterlist.eml  
From: Command Board  
Message Type: text  
Decoding...  
Cryption key: verified  
Decryption key: verified _

_Congratulations to all Maverick Hunters who participated in the Maverick battle earlier today. Shore leave has been approved for most hunters (see attached list). Enjoy it while you can. Keep in mind you may be called back into immediate service at any time. Enjoy yourselves and good luck in the future._

* * *

"Come in," Cain declared as he swallowed.

The door pulled into the wall with a swoosh. Zero stood in front of it, looking fierce but calm. "Dr. Cain?" he said as he entered.

"In here," Cain called out.

Zero stepped around the living room and entered the dining room. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here earlier. There were some last minute approvals I had to grant for shore leave. I sent them into your inbox for approval, but I think they'll be all right."

Cain nodded from his place at the table, not looking up from his meal. "Yes, probably. We don't expect to see much activity for the next few days. We hit them pretty hard." He rolled the pasta around on his fork. "Should be uneventful around here."

"Yeah, I wish every Maverick attack was like that." Zero stepped up to him and cocked his head to the side. "Refueling?"

Cain chuckled, "Yes, it would appear so. Three squares a day."

"It seems so inefficient to have to take so much time out of your day to eat."

"Yes, sleep too. Our designers certainly didn't do as well with us as yours did with you. Not nearly as many fallacies." Cain wiped his mouth free of tomato sauce. "Forgive me, I'm being rude." He turned away from his plate. "I wanted to talk to you today about Lina. I'm wondering if she should stay in her position."

"Why shouldn't she?"

"Well, I was a little worried about her performance in the MCP today. I'm always worried about human error in the post."

"But you're in the post," Zero pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm the... well, I see your point."

"I'd prefer a balance of humans and reploids in the force. It reminds me of what we're fighting for. X would agree with me."

"Yes, I suppose. But maybe we should consider replacing her."

"With a reploid or human?"

"I don't want to choose sides, but Janus came up with an interesting point in the cockpit today, that human error can be costly in the long run."

"Janus mentioned that?" Zero put his hands on his hips. "That doesn't surprise me, Janus has always opposed humans working in MHHQ. Not that I blame him for his reasons, reploids are more sophisticated machines that humans, for example.," he pointed to the spaghetti on Cain's plate, its meaning well-understood. "But there's no way we have enough manpower to complete all the jobs we have in such a vast complex if we made it exclusively reploid. Plus, how would it look if humans chose to neglect the very force intended to protect them? What would that say about our treatment as intelligent beings? It would be like using mice to make mousetraps."

"Mmm, I see. There're a few others who share his opinion."

"Yes, but they're in minority. Vocal, but minority. Most everyone in the HQ thinks its ridiculous. I trust Janus implicitly, but he's wrong in this case."

"I see. Janus works under X, right? How's his track record?"

"Good. But that's only because he's never done anything, more of a pencil-pusher really. Too low-ranked to get out of the shadows. Never did anything to make him stand out. I really don't think he'll amount to much overall."

"Well, I've been looking through the personnel files and there's a crack team of reploids coming up. One's a communications officer,one mechanic, one virus specialist, and one's looking to become a commander. He may even replace me when I retire," Cain laughed. "I predict, with enough grooming, they'll end up playing some key positions in HQ."

"Maybe. If you can send me the files, I'll look at them, tell you what I think."

"Surely. We'll probably be doing some transfers in the next few weeks. Continental divisions and such. I've gotten word from the government that the space colonization program is go."

"Is it?" Zero said excitedly. "I thought for sure it would get cut from the budget."

"Well, apparently it's going ahead. They've already constructed the space station and they're going to be sending humans into it in a few months. Of course, they'll need Maverick Hunters."

"I don't think I'd like an assignment like that. Too far away from everything I know. Too isolated. I don't think X would like it either."

"You two are quite inseparable, aren't you?" Cain mused.

"I owe him my life... on several occasions. And he owes me his. It's hard to break a bond like that."

"I suppose so. Back in the day, my scientist colleagues and I were the best of friends. It's a shame we all moved on. Sometimes I wonder what they're doing now. Ah, another human fallacy, getting old." Dr. Cain put his silverware back on the table. "Well, should be getting back to work now."

"We still have to take care of the upgrade components for the Talon 87 model reploids."

"Oh, bloody hell, you're right. Probably going to be another late night again, eh?"

"Afraid so."

"Ah, this is hard on me," he said as he grabbed his cane and stood up. "I'll have to take some time off after this, it's getting to me."

"I could take over the upgrades myself if you want to rest," Zero volunteered.

"No, no, it's my duty to do this. I can't shirk it, no matter how human I am," he smiled. He and Zero walked out of the room.

"There is at least one advantage you have over reploids," Zero said before they made it to the door. "You don't have to worry about getting the Maverick virus."

"Ah, that is true, isn't it? But you and X don't have that problem either."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can rest easy. It's nice being free from Maverick status, but that just means I have to earn it that much more. I have a responsibility to wipe out Mavericks so that the others can rest at peace."

"You, me, and X. The last triad of defense for humans."


	6. Act II, Scene 3

**ACT II, Scene 3**

Janus, of course, was not one of the Maverick Hunters approved for shore leave. His clerical duties separated him from the rest of the warrior pack. Likewise with X and Zero. They were too important and too busy to take a break, but they preferred it that way. Being warriors, vacation would only make them sluggish. It would take their minds out of the game, and commanders needed to be battle-ready at all times. Time spent relaxing was wasted time.

The sliding doors opened with a whir. X was right where Janus thought he would be, working at one of the planning rooms. Late at night, the lights were off, save the computer lights and the yellow etheral illumination from the clear plastic table in the center of the room. The room was colored in black and yellow. Smooth black panels, meant for displaying pictures to multiple people, were closing in on the center. X looked back and forth between the screen and some documents on his workstation.

Janus didn't wait for X to notice him. "X, are you busy?"

X looked back behind him, already knowing someone was there. "Errr... not really. What do you need?" X briefly looked at the clock near the ceiling, not realizing how late he was working.

Janus sat down in a swivel chair next to X. He could tell the commander had been working tediously for a very long time. Although robot facial features didn't show it, he could clearly see fatigue behind the eyes.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about the recent Maverick scare."

"What? You mean today? I wouldn't exactly say that was a scare."

"No, no, I'm not talking about today. I mean regarding Zero."

"Zero? What, you mean his account access? No one thought Zero was a Maverick because of that," he said dismissively.

Janus held up a finger. "Don't be so sure. There are rumors circulating around that Mavericks have already infiltrated MHHQ."

"There are always rumors like that."

"Yes, and sometimes they are true. Sigma was once a Maverick Hunter."

"Well, yes..."

"As well as several others, Magma Dragoon for one."

"I know. Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Sir, morale of the company. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. It reminds me of the McCarthy era of human history."

"Er... I don't... know about that period. Look," he turned away from his work. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I think. I mean, there's no point to be worried about the Maverick virus. We don't really know how it works, how it strikes, or what. It could come at any time, to any one of us." He swallowed. "But there's no point in worrying, worrying will just lead to fear, which will lead to mass hysteria. So, unless you know something, don't worry. We have everything well in hand at the top. Nobody on our side is going to turn Maverick."

"But there's no telling when and where its gonna strike. You could be lying next to your reploid friend under repair and all of the sudden - BAM! - he blasts you in the head. Those are just the ones who go crazy. There could be Mavericks right under our noses. You saw how General Brandle reacted to Zero's indiscretion. I do not believe his judgment was totally in error."

"Janus, do you have someone specific in mind? As a Maverick?"

"Sir, I could never accuse one of my fellow hunters of betrayal."

"There's no need to hold back info. If you're right, our future could be at stake."

"I'd really rather not, sir."

"Please, if you know something..."

"Well, sir," Janus looked away. "It's not so much that I know something, but that I've noticed something. Regarding Duplex."

"Go on." X's eyes were wide now and Janus had his full attention.

"I just can't help but notice some similarities he has to Double. He has a similar build, the same color, same non-threatening attitude. You're quite certain, sir, that you destroyed him during the Repliforce rebellion?"

"I did. I'm certain he's dead. I'm sure his remains exploded in the space station. Why?"

"Well, not all reploids are cut from individual cloth. I only thought that maybe hewas created from the same schematics, to create a replica."

"A replica," X mused, "Of a reploid gone Maverick. And if he was a replica he likely has the same traits that Double had."

"Perhaps the same traits that caused him to go Maverick."

"Damn, why didn't I realize this before?"

"I believe that in humans, there is a thing called genetics that says humans similar in structure are vulnerable to the same things." X's expression changed to one of worry. "In every bunch there are a few bad apples."

"But we can't take that risk. Not here." X stood up. "We've got to find him." He leapt up to the door panel. "Where is Duplex?"

The screen displayed and spoke **'Duplex cannot be located-'**

"What?" X said.

"He can't be located?" Janus said with surprise.

"I'm going to find him." X hit his X-buster to ready mode. Bright lights appeared on the cannon on his arm, photons spraying out from the mouth. With no hesitation he ran out of the room.

Janus walked forward through the doorway, watching the soles of X's boots as he sprinted down the corridor. He smirked ever-so-slightly and said one word. "Go."

* * *

X's first destination would be Duplex's room. No, wait, where would the most sensitive part of HQ be? The servers? Weapons array? No, wait, there were a dozen sensitive places Duplex could be. What did he want to hurt? The humans? The Maverick Hunters? Everybody? Those damn Mavericks' motives were always different. Where could he do the most damage? What was most vulnerable? Damn that Duplex. Why didn't he see it before? That toady would be unsuspecting, almost comical in his meekness. He'd be the least likely reploid to turn on them, if it wasn't for Double before him.

X wandered from hall to hall, searching for the bright yellow robot, trying for a pattern that would take him to sensitive areas of the complex. The factory? The power generator? The laboratory? Any of them had potential. Think rationally, X. The first place to look was Duplex's quarters. There would be some clues to his plans-

What was that?

X thought he heard footsteps. His ultra-sensitive hearing couldn't have heard wrong. Someone following him? X's quick scan of the surrounding area said nothing was there.

There!

X felt a tap on his shoulder. He quick turned around with his arm cannon drawn and ready. Nothing. He was sure he felt something. The air was still, though. X lowered his buster, but his eyes kept their wary glower.

He looked over his shoulder armor, ready for the next ghostly action.

"Come on, where are you? Show yourself!" X yelled angrily. His head darted in a circle, but there was nothing. "I know you're out there," he muttered.

X jumped around the corner with his buster drawn. Nothing but air. So he backed up against the wall.

Footsteps!

X turned back and saw a glint of yellow disappear from the hall. "Duplex! Get back here!" X turned the corner and ran down the hall. "Get back here!" He fired off several shots of his plasma cannon. One hit an invisible form, the light dissipating through the object outlining the shape of a body.

"Duplex!" Klaxons sounded their blaring call, detecting weapons fire in the building. Finding his mark, X fired again. This time all the shots hit Duplex as he ran away. He tripped from the impact and skidded on his rounded stomach, rolling like a bowling ball.

"Aagh, help! Help!" Duplex outstretched his hand as X ran up behind him, charging his blaster.

Suddenly, Zero and Dr. Cain turned the corner to the corridor where Duplex was prone and helpless and X stood over him. The X-buster was poised and ready, a faint pink glow radiating off X's form, accompanied by a powered hum.

"X?" Zero asked X.

"Zero! It- Duplex!" X stammered.

"Help me!" Duplex shouted, "He just started attacking me!"

"He's lying! He's gotta be a Maverick. He- I've got to, before..." X moved his cannon.

Zero jumped over Duplex, tackling X to the ground. The surprise caused X to let loose his charged blast fully into Zero. The crimson reploid fully absorbed the plasma surge as he collapsed on his friend.

"Erggh!" Zero gritted his teeth as flashes of light entered his vision.

More Maverick Hunters, alerted by the klaxons, had come into the hallway from both sides. They pulled Zero off of X quickly. He was limp but still conscious. Others grabbed X and held him captive.

"Zero! Are you all right?" Cain asked.

His eyes were half-closed. Groggy as hell, he said, "Uhhh, I think so."

X looked stunned, eyes as wide as dinner plates. "I- Zero, I'm sorry."

"X, what did you do?" Cain asked.

X stuttered. "I- I thought he was a Maverick. Duplex. He- I mean look at him, he- He looks like Double. They could be from the same plans."

"Is that your only evidence?" Cain asked with a furrowed brow.

"Well, ... well, look at him, why would he be here if he wasn't a spy? He's not suitable for battle."

"X, we have a lot of hunters who don't fight actively." He sighed. The writing was on the wall. "X, I'm afraid I'm going to have to put you under house arrest."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, until we can get this all straightened out we're going to have to confine you to your quarters. The regulations clearly state this is an act of mutiny."

X's emotions tumbled inside him like a waterfall. He was barely sure how he had even got here. "But, but..."

"Please, X," Cain put a hand to his forehead. "I'm sure this has just been a big misunderstanding. But even if you were my own twin brother, I would still have to do this."

"I understand," X finally conceded.

"Take him to his quarters. Put up all the necessary force fields," Cain ordered.

The security reploids did so, taking him back the way he came in. X looked back over his shoulder once at Zero.

"X... why?" Cain asked himself. He hobbled over to Zero and picked up his head by the chin. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah," he coughed and blinked. "Just wasn't ready for that. That's all." He straightened himself out and stood up.

"Why don't you go down and get a quick repair?"

"Yeah, I was just going to do that." Zero adjusted his helmet, somewhat foggy about the whole incident.

Janus came down the hallway. His expression was one of great surprise. "What happened? Is Zero all right?"

"X attacked Duplex and then he attacked Zero," Cain responded.

"Good God!" Janus said. He bent down and helped Duplex up, who was still in his cowering prone position.

"Janus, you don't know anything about this, do you?"

"No, sir. Not the current situation, but I have noticed some peculiarities with X as of late."

"Some what?" Zero said. He lightly pushed himself out of the grasp of his supporters to stand up on his own.

Janus said, "X has been acting, er- shall we say, paranoid?"

"What do you mean?" Zero asked. "I can't believe that. X is the most level-headed guy I've ever known."

"I can't say I can explain it. I can only tell you what I've seen. Believe me, I'd rather have my speech program deleted than speak ill of X, but his welfare is our welfare. I can see him in the hallway, his eyes looking behind him. He speaks of loyalty at every turn, of doing the most that he can, as if he's waiting for someone to accuse him of the opposite. I hoped it was just the stress. I hope you don't think X's behavior suspicious."

Cain rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I really do not need this right now. This internal strife... this would be the perfect time for Mavericks to strike."

"Don't say such things, sir. It will only invite bad luck."

"I'm going back to my room. Please don't alert me if anything else happens." Cain walked off back to his quarters. Zero limped off with him with two others guarding him from behind. Janus glowered at them as they walked off.

Duplex brushed off his arms as he hoisted himself up. "Excuse me? Excuse me, Mr. Reploid? Over here? I'm talking to you." Janus turned slowly to Duplex. "I don't believe at anytime you said X was gonna catch me! I mean, what the hell are you thinking? He could have killed me."

"No, he couldn't. X is not a killer."

"Oh god," Duplex rotated his shoulder. "He nearly killed me. I'll have to get all my shoulder servos replaced. I've spent all my credits. Do you understand? I am in pain. I'm leaving!"

"Your pain is just a trifle. Think about it. In the future, will you be remembering this moment? Will you be feeling any pain a day from now? No, it'll pass. You have no patience, Duplex. For us, we work by fortitude, not brute force. Unless you want to quit now?"

Duplex hesitated before answering. "Well, maybe I will."

"And preclude all the pain and suffering you've already been through? All your money... wasted?"

Duplex averted his eye contact with Janus.

The gray reploid smiled smugly. "Go back, heal up. Our next move will begin shortly. I'll contact you then. Go now."

Duplex started to protest, but then thought better of it. He slumped his shoulders and walked off, limping slightly.

* * *

_REC SYSTEM 1.2  
Copyright © 2105, 2109, 2114_

_Real Mem 8192 TB  
Avail Mem 32768 TB_

_Primary Data Cache 512 KB  
Primary Inst Cache 768 KB  
Secondary Cache 32768KB_

_Testing file system...  
Testing files...  
OK!_

_Login: janus221347  
Pass:_

_Welcome!_

_Janus2214347> new log -nx_

_Created new logfile 6/28/21XX 184934_

_They call me a Maverick - one who turns against his creators. But who's really the Maverick here? Being a Maverick isn't a matter of a computer virus. It's not a behavior that can be suppressed. It's not some bug in reploid A.I. It's free will. That's what the hundreds of scientists hard at work fail to realize. It's free will manifesting itself. It's thinking. It's making your own decisions. It's finding out that good and evil don't have a meaning, it's all gray. It's about following your own desires, based on your own values. If Dr. Thomas Light hadn't foreseen conflict between humans and robots, then why did he give X the ability to think and feel emotions? If he thought X would live in an era of peace, why did he give him his arm cannon? Dr. Light was such a blind optimist it gave him the idea that he could be a God player. Just like a foolish human. The Maverick virus is the greatest event to happen to the evolution of Earth since its civilization._


	7. Act III, Scene 1

**ACT III, Scene 1**

"But Tammy says you couldn't go out tonight."

"Pfft, you think Darryl can keep me here. The Rag Dogs are playing at Club Cadbury. I can't not go!"

"The Rag Dogs! Hang on, I'll get my money."

_laughs_

Not very funny, X thought to himself as leaned on his elbow, staring at the video screen. His eyes were half-closed and sleepy. House arrest was definitely the pits. He couldn't possibly be more bored than he was right now. And he hated being idle, more than anything else in the world. It was ingrained in his personality to resist being idle. He'd done every report, answered every mail, organized his online directory, and even cleaned his room. He couldn't think of anything else to do unless he broke something and then tried to fix it. Humans always complained about their lack of free time, he'd be glad to give some to them. They probably wouldn't know what to do with so much of it. So now he resorted to watching 'Prime Time Madness - classic sitcoms on the Nostalgio Network'.

The room sounded a beep. "X, it's Dr. Cain. Can I enter?" his voice came through the intercom.

"I'm under arrest. Is there anything I can do about it?" X responded.

"Technically, no."

X sighed. "Come in."

The entrance door parted and Dr. Cain walked in, hobbling past the two posted guards. His cane made a soft tapping sound as it hit the carpet. X turned around in his chair as Cain approached him, the mild static of the TV filling the silence. "How've you been doing, X?"

"Well, I've got this big pain in my side, probably from a thorn."

"X, listen. I'm sure-"

"No, stop," X held up his palm, "Look, any consolation you want to give me can't possibly equal what I already feel. In other words, I don't think you can say anything to make me feel better."

"X-"

"I nearly blasted my best friend to bits. I attacked a fellow Maverick Hunter, and I can't even tell you why." X suddenly stood up and threw his hands in the air, walking away from Cain. "It was just this... feeling I had. Something harsh. It erased my normal functions and replaced it with something bestial. I don't know how any of the other hunters can look up to me after what I did."

"X, I can assure you there are no Maverick Hunters who have suddenly turned on you after this. Your reputation is only as important as you make it. Leaders are dependent on their track record, that's true. But you can easily regain the little bit you lost. Most think it was some misunderstanding, just like me."

"Well, I can assure you, there was none." X looked back at Cain from the corners of his eyes. "I was just... transformed into this paranoid beast. You did the test on Duplex?"

"We did. He had no traces of the Maverick virus."

"Then what more do you need? I assaulted a reploid who had done no wrong and severely damaged the commander of these armies. What has this war done to me?" He shook his head sadly, turned away from Dr. Cain. "All this fighting, it doesn't seem like the Mavericks will ever be stopped. The anti-virus failed, the countless debugs failed, the quarantine failed. Mavericks are everywhere, they could pop out at anytime. There's got to be some in HQ even as we speak! But, no." He stopped himself and held his helmet. "It sounds like I'm trying to justify my actions, but I'm not. There's no excuse for what I did. Zero will never forgive me." X leaned over a chair. "Christ, doctor, I could even be a Maverick myself."

"X, we already know that you're invulnerable to the Maverick virus, you and Zero. We don't know why, but you are. You're speaking utter nonsense."

X kept silent and grimaced, keeping his head bowed low and staring blankly at the edge of the wall and the floor.

"Anyway," Cain continued. "I came here to tell you what's going to happen next. The command board will be having a meeting, going over the evidence and witness accounts and such. Depending on what we find, you'll either be absolved or some suitable punishment will be assigned to you. NOT retirement."

"Are you sure that wouldn't be best? For a dangerous Maverick like me?"

"Shut up, X!" Cain shouted. X spun around in surprise, his eyes widened at attention. "I can't stand to see you depreciating yourself like a little child. One little mistake does not overwrite years and years of loyal service and performance. You are Mega Man X, and you are the best for a reason. As long as you're honest with the board, your reputation will be clean, even if it takes some time. They're not robot haters or human purists. They're just like you and me. And if I believe in you, they will. You must have confidence that everything will be all right. I do. And so do all the other Maverick Hunters. And Zero."

X slowly looked up at Dr. Cain.

Cain said, "Zero will forgive you. You've been together too long to let an accident like this come between you. I don't care how hot-headed he gets."

X smirked with his small mouth. "All right."

"You know who the board consists of - our military and scientists, including myself. I don't see any difficulty clearing up this whole matter quickly and quietly. Until we have our meeting, you'll be confined to quarters. Unless you'd like to be moved to the cell?"

X smiled. "No, that'll be all right."

"Okay, then. If you need me, contact me. I know that's against regulations, but you know," he casually winked. "I got connections."

X nodded and smiled.

"See you later," Cain pointed his cane at X in a friendly manner, smiled, and left.


	8. Act III, Scene 2

**ACT III, Scene 2**

Lina flipped to the next page in her book, stopping for a moment to stroke the smooth, delicate paper in her hand. Paper books were a vintage rarity, one hardly ever saw them anymore, and they were considered collector's items. No one had seen paper in any other form for decades, since trees had been labeled endangered. Lina got a headache from reading text on a computer screen, so she chose to read books while she worked her shift monitoring the diagnostic chambers. Sure, she endured a lot of ribbing from her workmates, but she took it in stride.

The light blue computer screen on the desk in front of her blipped open and an image of a scientist appeared. "Lina?"

Lina quickly put down her book abashedly, spine up, and assumed a commanding position. "Yes, sir?"

"Is Zero still in sleep?"

"Yes."

"Did he mention anything about where he put his funding report, by any chance?"

"Mm, nope."

"Darn, okay, when he gets up can you tell him to bring down his space colony report, when he gets a chance?"

"Will do. I'll send him a message."

"Thanks." He cut the communication, returning the screen to a blue readout of the tests being performed.

Lina accessed Zero's chamber interface, and struck up a communication line to him. 'WHEN UP, NEED SPACE COLONY REPORT' she wrote in. She looked above her console at the diagnostic chamber holding Zero. He looked as if he was sleeping, to any other human, but those smart enough about the way MHHQ worked knew he had full consciousness at this point. He was simply operating in a low power mode so the tests could complete as quickly as possible. After absorbing the blast and getting repaired, he wanted to get back on his feet as soon as possible. The tests were the final stage in his mending, just to make sure everything had gone right.

Zero made no motion, though Lina was sure he had gotten the message. The computer had a direct line to his system, and she could communicate in simple text. As if telepathically, Zero wrote back on the screen 'REPORT'S IN MY ROOM'. And then, 'HOW MUCH LONGER DO I HAVE TO COMPLETE?'

Lina looked at the second monitoring screen. The overall percentage bar was nearly full. She wrote back '95 NO ERRORS.'

'I'LL JUST GET IT MYSELF. SEVER CONNECTIONS.'

Lina arched her eyebrow. 'YOU MIGHT SUFFER A MEMORY FAULT.'

'WHATEVER.'

Lina entered the command to end the diagnostics prematurely. A pressurized hiss sounded as Zero's connections were severed and the glass capsule cover slid back. Zero blinked awake, and lifted his torso up. "I've broken early before, never had an error," he spoke in words, as if he had been communicating that way all along. He swung his legs over the edge of the capsule, hanging there for a moment as he re-oriented himself and stood up.

"Any dreams?" Lina asked, as she picked her book back up. "Log didn't show any."

"No."

Zero started taking plugs out of the various points and access panels on and under his armor. "Is that X who wanted the report?"

"No, uh, Dr. Addison."

"Oh," Zero looked a little relieved at that. Lina looked worried when she realized this.

"X is still under house arrest."

"I see."

"Have you talked to X since..."

"No," Zero said blandly. "What he did is unforgivable."

"Zero, it was just an accident, you should forgive him." She clutched her book in front of her chest, as if it were a comforting teddy bear. "I'm sure he feels terrible about it."

"Maybe. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't have done it." He unhooked the last cord and dropped it in the chamber seat. He walked up to Lina's desk. "I don't know how much you know about arm cannon design, but it doesn't go off just from a simple jostle."

"No, I know, but X didn't mean to fire it at you. Once its charged you have to let it diffuse or let off the blast, and it takes a lot more effort to diffuse it. X was surprised, that's all."

"That doesn't excuse his behavior."

"No, that's true. Do you know why he did it?"

"No idea. I just walked in on him."

"Well, maybe you should talk to him, try and find out why. It might help. You wouldn't want there to be a rift between you two. That would be bad for morale to say the least."

Zero nodded, understanding the importance of the two command leaders being in sync. "I just need some more time, I'm still pretty angry about it. I'll give it some time to let it cool down. How is morale?" Zero sometimes asked his troops this. Morale was vastly important in a battle situation, and he needed to know regularly, especially after an incident like this.

She shrugged one shoulder, "S'okay, I guess. A lot of people are confused, wondering what the deal with X is. You know how rumors are," she waved her hand dismissively, and returned her attention to the keyboard to run some programs. "They're all wondering the same thing as you, why X went so crazy."

Zero nodded, "He is usually more rational than that."

Lina said, "They can sort of understand why X thought the way he did, but they're wondering why, if he thought Duplex was a Maverick, why he didn't go through the proper channels."

"Maybe he thought he didn't have time," Zero added.

"Yeah, maybe, that's what someone said. And they understand why X thought what he did, after Double. Heck, I might have thought the same thing. And no one really likes Duplex anyway, so they weren't too sad about that," she smirked. "But X just didn't have the evidence and that's what everyone's confused about. X is always very particular about making sure no one is Maverick and that the virus doesn't spread. Personally, I think he feels partly responsible about it, because there was no Maverick virus before him, so he had to keep an eye on it." She scoured the screen curiously for a moment, distracted by having to think about a difficult command. She finshed and looked back at Zero, "And then everyone starts talking about what they know about X. You know, just the slightest suspiscious things that no one would have thought twice about. Like Tyro says that he transports out of here sometimes to a location in the antarctic. Not sure why, never says why, near an unmanned ice station. But I don't think anyone's worried about things like that."

She looked up at Zero, who was obviously quite worried. His eyes were skyward and he was biting his lip. "Tell Addison I'm on my way, please." And walked past her.

"Sure," she responded, listening to the clop-clop of his metal armor on the floor.

* * *

Janus unplugged the Personal Electronic Terminal from the mini-cannon. He switched down to the inventory list and made note of the condition and amount of ammunition left. He then updated the database remotely. With this final entry, his work was finished and he stood up off his knees on the fortification's parapet, a lonely perch overlooking the outside of the base.

"You there, Janus!" Duplex announced from across the walkway. Janus slowly turned around and looked up to see the yellow reploid waddling towards him. The gray reploid furrowed his brows.

"You're quite bold meeting me here, out in the open, if you've gotten what I think you have."

"You would not believe. My Star Cloak was this close to running out of power. This close!" Duplex held up his fingers to indicate the minuteness of his escape. "I had to run in behind Dr. Cain, find the damn thing, then-"

"Quiet! Quiet!" Janus nearly shouted. They were alone, but there was no sense in taking chances.

"You've wanted me to get it for forever and that's all you can say? Be quiet? Do you know how hard I had to work to get this thing?"

"I'm sure you've done well, I don't need a full report. I'd be remiss not to sing your praises, but now's not the time. Just give it to me."

Duplex barely had taken it out before Janus snatched it and hid it away.

"What are we gonna use it for anyway?" Duplex asked.

"You need not know that now. We'll find a use for it, believe me. Tonight, if possible. It's just another piece of the puzzle. You've done well, Duplex. Now be off with you, stay low-key, stay away from people and don't act suspicious."

Duplex nodded and turned around as Janus walked back to the door leading back to the interior of MHHQ and pressed the adjacent black panel.

"Where is Zero?"

**'ZERO IS IN THE BETA ARENA'**


	9. Act III, Scene 3

**Author's Note:** Thanks to you all for reading my story. If you like it, or have any criticism at all, please feel free to leave a review. It does wonders for my fragile ego, and encourages others to read as well. Thanks! 

**ACT III, Scene 3**

"Hoo! Huh! Huwoa!"

Zero executed a perfect triple slash combo on an incoming batton M-501bat. The black bowling ball exploded in a sphere of light with harmless obsidian shrapnel littering the ground. Two rolling tanks emerged from doorways on opposite sides of the room. Zero jumped up while their turrets tracked him, and landed on the top of the one on the left. The second tank opened fire, scattering plasma blasts against the wall. Zero skyrocketed off as the shots peppered the tank, causing it to explode. Zero aimed his arm cannon and rained down plasma shots at the remaining tank. The tank's turret readjusted its angle gradually as Zero careened forward and sliced off the barrel with his energy saber. He switched his body around and around the tank several more times, whipping his saber up and down, and jumped back as the tank exploded in a shower of light.

"Computer - advance difficulty to Rank S," Zero demanded.

**Rank S is not recomm-**

"Just do it!" Zero screamed primally.

The computer blipped in compliance and dark red light flooded the room. Suddenly, robots began pouring out of all sixteen entrance panels around the room. They started firing plasma shots immediately. Yellow globules of energy spattered the room around him in crossfire.

Zero dashed forward and slammed into one of the cycloptichumanoid robots in the stomach. As it doubled over he thrust his arm back up, knocking it in the face with his bulbous forearm. It swayed back and the red commander blew it away with his arm cannon. A plasma burst made impact with his right shoulder blade, leaving a smoldering mark. He winced and looked behind him, ferocity masking his face like war paint.

Zero took off at an inhuman sprint under the chaotic blitzkrieg with his saber blazing. He dashed towards the wall and sliced a soldier robot in two at the torso. Rust-colored red metal innards spilled out. The next one he decapitated, yellow sparks fountaining forth instead of blood. Plasma shots pelted down hard on him as the others locked onto his stationary position. Zero looked back in fury at them and raced along the edge of the wall, cutting dummy robots open as fast as they could emerge. The enemies respawned just as fast as Zero could do away with them. Still sprinting, Zero's foot touched the wall itself and, using his centrifugal force, he began running along the wall. Smoke and sparks flew left and right from the bodies and machines littering the floor.

"RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Zero spun off the wall like a tornado and cut the last robot down the middle, head to toe. The two halves fell apart from each other and flopped to the ground.

The red android squatted on the ground, posed with his saber arced behind him and holding the ground for support with his other hand. The lighting in the arena switched back to hospital white.

**End Program** the computer said.

"Not enough," Zero muttered as he turned off his light saber.

"Commander."

Zero looked up and saw Janus standing in the open doorway.

"Janus? Are you going to use the Beta Room?" he said as he rubbed his wrist, testing its tensile strength.

"Oh, no, sir, I fight my battles in less violent terms... and with less debris to clean up."

Zero took a passing glance at the wasteful mess he'd made. "Well, do you want something then?" Janus could tell by the angered look in his eyes and his heavy breathing, Zero was still agitated from the battle. .

"I'm just curious, sir, as to how X's extradition proceeds."

"Don't talk about X with me. I'm really not in the mood for it." Zero said as he sheathed his saber into his belt.

"Oh, I know my timing is off, sir. But I was wondering just how well you know X."

Zero thought Janus was taking a serious risk continuing the conversation. "Know him? I know him like he was my own brother."

"Then why did he shoot you?"

"It wasn't on purpose. He was aiming for Duplex, but he got me instead."

"Pardon me, sir, but that's not what I've heard from others in the company. Though I bore no witness to the event, I understand that X fired at you in defense when you assailed him."

"I don't know!" Zero threw his hands up in the air and then clutched the sides of his head, "Rrrgh, I don't know, and I can't get in to see him or talk to him because he's under arrest." He propped himself up at the side of the wall, his eyes growing and his pupils narrowing. "I keep telling myself it was just an accident, but that look he had in his eyes, I see it in my dreams. What do you think?"

"Whether it was accident or purposeful, I cannot tell."

"Maybe he was just defending himself, right? He saw me jump at him and he let it go. He acted instinctively."

"Reploids don't have instincts, sir."

"I know! That's the problem. So what does that leave? He did it intentionally? I can't believe that. I mean, I did tackle him, but that was just to protect the other guy. And he let the blast go into me."

"Did it hurt, sir?" Janus cocked his head to the side. "I ask because I've never been in full combat before. I've never taken a charged blast, though I doubt I would withstand it."

Zero sighed. "It hurt. It hurt like hell. He knew it, but he didn't stop. It had to have been an accident. Right? Right?"

"I... er," Janus stammered, surprised at being asked his own opinion.

"Janus, tell me what you think. You work under X, right?"

"Yes, sir, but that can't mean that I am a judge of his character."

"You must know. What have you seen? Has X been acting weird?" Zero grabbed Janus by the shoulders with a pleading look in his eye.

"Weird? Weird is such a subjective term."

"Yes, yes, but do you know if he's been acting weird?"

"Know? I cannot 'know' someone is weird. Just like I cannot 'know' if a person is kind. It's a matter of opinion."

"Fine, fine, then what do you _think_?"

"Think, sir?"

"Are you stuck on repeat?" Zero released his shoulders and stepped back. "Do you know something? Are you trying to hide something from me?"

"Sir, please calm down. You know that I am dutifully obligated to serve you."

"I know, I know you are a fine Maverick Hunter and would never disobey an order. And I order you to tell me what you think of X!" Zero glowered hatefully at Janus, never wavering from his battle gaze.

"I think X is an honest hunter."

"And?"

"And what, sir? If you'll forgive me, my opinions are irrelevant in this matter."

"I assure you they are very relevant."

"But what I may say has the chance to be misinterpreted. I'd hate to be the source of an ugly rumor, especially one damaging to X."

"My god, man. Did you take classes in verbal manipulation or something?" Zero threw up his hands and paced back to the wall.

"If I should speak badly of X, it would ruin him for all time. A man's treasure is nothing if he has no reputation to spend it."

"What? What are you talking about? Reputation?" He spoke slowly and deliberately so that Janus would understand him. "I just want your opinion of X."

Janus kept his mouth shut and stood there dumbly, his hands behind his back.

Zero approached him infuriated. "Braah, tell me! Tell me, or so help me..."

"I cannot, even if my memory was ripped out of me."

"RRRAA!" Zero wound up his arm and his meaty fist punched clear through the titanium padding of the room. Zero retracted his hand slowly, pulling out sparking wires and wall debris. A soft screeching metal sounded as he moved his hand. Janus' expression remained unfazed.

Zero pulled his undamaged hand out and looked between it and the wall. "My god, have I lost control too? Is this how you felt, X?"

Janus stepped closer to Zero with his hands clasped behind him. "Dear sir, be wary of suspicion. It is a black dog that sinks its teeth in once and never lets go."

Zero propped his arms against the wall, stared down at the floor, panting like he was sick. His eyes were gaping wide, looking for something to believe in.

Janus continued, "If you were rich and were constantly paranoid of those around you trying to take your earnings, it would be better to be poor and content. Don't you think?"

Zero futily tried to shove back in the wires he had pulled out of the wall. "You're right," Zero quick-turned back to Janus, regaining his composure. "I'm not a suspicious person. I don't behave irrationally like this. X might, but I don't. Never knew he had it in him, but he is capable of that. I've just demonstrated it." He gestured to the newly made hole. "I regret it, but the writing's on the wall, so to speak."

"I just don't want you to become as paranoid as X."

"Do you think I'm seeing conspiracies everywhere? People know me as level-headed. If I'm in doubt, then I stay in doubt until the issue is resolved. I already know what I know, now I want to know if there is more to go on."

"Good," Janus stood at attention and smiled. "Then you are ready to hear what I have to say. Although this is not proof, I suggest this: keep X under observation. See how he is avoiding contact with humans over reploids."

"What makes you think I can keep track of his movements that closely? After his arrest he'll be making sure to keep his suspicious behavior to a minimum. We're not living in an Orwellian society. And I don't want to have to put a camera on him at all hours. Even if I did that wouldn't go through with command. They'd say that's the very reason we're trying to stop the Mavericks."

"But isn't that what we're doing here?"

"X? As a Maverick? Now you are wasting my time. Don't you know that X and I are impervious to the Maverick virus?"

"There's still a lot we don't understand about the Maverick virus, sir. It's called a virus, but who knows where it came from. All we do know is that there was no virus until X surfaced."

"That doesn't make a case for it. And even if X were a Maverick, why would he have attacked me? Wouldn't he have wanted to attack humans, like Dr. Cain maybe?"

"Reploids don't need to hate humans to fight each other. We've seen plenty of evidence of that in our battles."

"Yeah, well, they also don't need to be Maverick to fight each other, as we've seen with Repliforce."

Janus cocked his head to the side. "I thought the report on that was that they had gone Maverick."

Zero slumped his shoulders. "Never mind."

"Sir?"

"In any case, I'll need more than what I have now to be able to make any sort of accusations against X. You've given me nothing to go on here, Janus. You're wasting my time."

"That's why I suggest you keep your eye on him. X is a conflicted soul. He's a pacifist at heart, yet he continues to fight in every war, to assume the role of Commander. Somewhere in there, X must be experiencing wrenching inconsistency. But he must cover it up to maintain his demeanor. The trick is to separate the lies from the truth."

"And what are the lies? There's got to be something you can offer me that's a little more substantial. I don't make these kind of accusations without evidence."

"That, you must see for yourself. But the evidence is there," Janus said.

"Now, I want some actual proof. Some hard data. Something I can see with my eyes that X is a Maverick." Zero clutched his fist in front of him.

"Sir, I must again suggest that you back away from this manner. It can only end badly. You're taking it too personally."

"Nothing is too personal when it concerns the safety of the world. The world I've sworn to protect. I want a reason to bring action to X."

"I can only tell you this. One day, I managed a glimpse of his diagnostic log. His dreams. They were on the monitor clear as day. I know dreams are wayward and random, but this one... it involves your saber."

"Go on."

"The dreams involved X surrounded by shadowy figures. He took his beam saber... yours. The one given at the third rise of Sigma. And he stabs the figures repeatedly, over and over. And out comes blood. Human red blood. The look in his eyes is just..." Janus trailed off.

"No... NO!" Zero raised his arms and shouted to the sky.

"It was only a dream."

"X doesn't dream of such things. His dreams are of peace, where there is no fighting among humans and reploids."

"That is the nature of dreams. Sometimes they show the truth beneath the lies." Janus paused. Zero put a hand over his heart, as if it were breaking. He staggered back as if he had been hit. Janus continued, "Sir, you know the nature of reploid dreams. They are always true events. Somewhat obscured, but always true. Reploids cannot create in imagination."

"It's not possible. It's not. I'll tear him."

"Sir, please, contain yourself. Your reputation would be marred with this display."

Zero sank to his knees. "It's not... The logs-" he looked up to Janus pleading.

"Erased. X would surely not let such a truth escape."

Zero bent down with his head touching the ground. "I can't. I can't. No, I had a duty. I made a vow to stop Mavericks everywhere. I swore I would carry it out when I became commander."

"Sir, I'm afraid there's no way around it. If you find X's saber, you'll have the evidence you desire."

Zero put a hand to his eyes in anguish. "Oh, X, X, X, X. When did you go wrong? Why would you do this? The humans... was it because they weren't good enough? Not strong enough? Was it really the virus?" Zero looked back at Janus from the tops of his eyes. "I swear you had better not be lying to me."

"I swear I have told you no lies."

"Are you listening to me, soldier? Do you understand the stress I'm under?" Zero pointed his finger angrily. "If I find out you've given me false leads I'll have you dismantled so fast it'd make your head swim. I'll have you hooked up to a power reactor. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

Zero looked up at Janus with watery eyes. "I must... I must stop X. I have to," he said weakly.

Janus kneeled down to Zero's level. "I know, sir. I made the same vow. That means I must help you." He put his arm around his red armor, cradling him.

"Good, Janus. Good." Zero coughed back to a steady stream of voice, his commanding tone. "I will need a hand in this. Janus. X is as powerful as me. He won't go down easy, and he won't go down by myself alone. Only you and I know of this, Janus, and we have to keep it that way."

"I understand, sir."

"In order to do this, you'll need more privileges. I'll have you promoted to First Lieutenant. And transfer you to my command."

"Thank you, sir. I shall serve no one else above you."


	10. Act III, Scene 4

**ACT III, Scene 4**

"It's so hard being a man sometimes."

_laughs_

"It can't be that... hard"

_laughs_

"Don't go there!"

_laughs_

X plopped his head on the table while the monitor continued the canned laughter.

"I hate my life."

"We'll be back to _Mr. Meteor_ just after these messages," the monitor responded.

X accessed the menu and shut off the broadstream. He stood up from the desk and crossed his arms. "I have to do something," X said to himself.

The blue clad reploid stormed off to his room's entryway. The doors buzzed in error.

_-This doorway is not permitted to grant exit privileges to Mega Man X-_ the central computer declared.

"Oh, for cryin'..." X grumbled to himself. He could easily blast his way out of the doors, but that would also bring the security down hard on him. "Hey, hey, guys! Out there!"

The two guards on the opposite side of the door heard X's muffled pleadings. They looked to each other silently, wondering what they should do.

"Hey, hey, come on, guys, open the door. Guys? Come on, guys. I'm not gonna-"

The door shifted open. The reploid on the left with his plasma gun pointed leaned out from his position. He had on a red helmet and black and copper armor. "Yeeeeeees?"

X nervously said, "Er, hey, listen, could you guys do a favor for me?"

"Favors? Can we do favors?"

The reploid situated on the right, an exact replica, just shrugged.

"Should we look it up in the handbook?"

He shrugged again.

"Where is our handbook?"

He shrugged.

The talkative reploid started scouring the floor for where he might've left it. X poked his head out of the doorway to see what was going on.

"Just a second, there," the reploid snapped back to attention and held the barrel of his pistol under X's chin. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Whoa. Nowhere," X held up his hands defensively. "I just want to know if you guys can get Zero."

"'Get' Zero?" the copper reploid pulled back his gun and tapped his temple with it thoughtfully. "I don't think anyone could really 'get' Zero. Right?"

His partner shrugged.

He continued. "I mean, he's such a mystery. His origins, his past..."

"No, no, I don't mean understand him, I mean 'get him, like 'obtain' him."

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh... well, wait a minute, isn't kidnapping against the law?"

His partner shrugged.

"No, no," X said. "You don't need to kidnap him, just bring him here." X started making very pronounced hand motions to illustrate his message.

"Oh, I see, you want us to go and 'get' Zero so we can 'bring him here'."

"Right."

"Why? Is he under arrest too?"

His partner shrugged.

"No, no, just to... do you have memory problems or something?"

"No, sir," he said proudly, "Why I remember clear as day each of the thirty-two times I've had to be reassembled."

"Thirty... two..." X blinked. "Er, never mind, just ge- find Zero and bring him back here to me."

"Will do, sir," the guard saluted hazardously with his pistol still in hand. X stepped slowly back into the room. The door shut in front of him.

X turned around, exasperated from his conversation, wondering how soldiers like that could stay in his army, and if he was going to succeed in his mission.

He went over to his room's lounge chair and picked up a holophoto on the end table. In the snapshot, Zero, X, Dr. Cain, and others of their hunter squadron stood behind the rubble foundation of a building. The office building had been taken over by a group of renegade Mavericks who had failed to take notice of the condemned signs posted all around the outside. The negotiator challenged the Maverick leader to blow the building up saying 'he hadn't the guts'. This Maverick called his bluff and blew himself and the building to kingdom come. The explosion saved the city the trouble of having to destroy it themselves. Later, after the laughter had died down, the group had posed in front of the foundation. Zero was giving the victory sign, with a massive grin on his face, while X opted for the more subtle thumbs up and sly smirk. The photo caption read August 10, 21XX - Best Victory Ever.

X grinned as he looked at the photo, remembering all the laughter at the Mavericks' poor attempts to convince them that he actually had humans in the building. That was one of his favorite times as a Maverick Hunter. Not only was it a bloodless victory, but it was also great fun. X tilted the picture around so he could see the 3D effects.

Suddenly, X's door opened. Before X had even looked up, Zero was standing in the doorway, a grim look on his face. The guard squeezed in the little space Zero had left between the door. "I've brought Zero, sir." He raised the red android's hand like he had just won a boxing match.

"Get your hands off me." Zero jerked his arm back.

The reploid was taken aback and showed a hurt expression. He slunk back outside and the door closed behind him.

Zero turned back to X. "I thought people under house arrest weren't supposed to have visitors?" he said, standing stiff as a stick.

X threw his head back, resting on the back of the lounge chair. "Ah, Zero, you have no idea how bored I am."

"Indeed."

X took a moment to gauge Zero. His glare burned like fire and his shoulders slumped like he had an enormous weight on him. X could almost visibly see the tonnage boring into his back. He arched his eyebrows in surprise. He had no idea what had happened to him, but maybe it was something he did.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize for what I did. You have to know it was an accident, right?"

Zero stayed still, slowly looking about the room, keeping his eyes averted from X's gaze. His broad shoulders made him seem taller than real life. "Your room is still as neat as ever," Zero muttered. "I suppose you've even had time to level out the pictures."

"Uh, the pictures were always level," X said cautiously, not knowing why Zero was copping such an attitude.

"Oh, yes, of course, pardon me. Not a damn thing out of place, is there? It's a good room. Good quarters. A place for everything and everything in its place."

"Er, yes," X said, almost as a question.

"I suppose somewhere amidst all this organization is the beam saber I gave to you. Right?"

"Of course," X said, getting a little more perturbed.

"Let me see it."

"Why? You have one of your own. On your belt."

"Let me see yours," he demanded firmly.

"Fine." It was no big deal to X. Whatever would get Zero out of this attitude problem, he would gladly do. Whatever would get him closer to forgiveness. X got up off the couch and went to a nightstand-like drawer. He bent to one knee and opened it, rifling through the folders and boxes inside. Zero followed, standing over him like a totem pole. "Uhhh..." X uttered as he found the object not to be found. He closed the bottom drawer, opened the top, and dug through its contents.

"Well?" Zero asked.

"It's usually right here. In a box. I moved some stuff around. I must've lost track of it."

X stood up and looked around his room. Of course, there were file cabinets and drawers and cubbyholes everywhere. X checked the nearest one. It was filled with an assortment of files way too thick to have a saber in it. The next was full of old knick-knacks, souvenirs, and pictures he didn't have up anymore. Everything in his room was either practical or sentimental. And the saber was one of the most sentimental of all. There's no way he could have easily misplaced it, but that's what it was looking like happened.

"I must've moved it. Maybe someone accidentally took it or I lent it to someone."

"X, do you remember when I gave you that saber?" Zero said in a mockingly parental voice. "We were in Doppler's fortress. The giant Mosquitus bot had just sucked all the juice out of my power generator. I gave you my saber and said 'Crush them all, X. You're our last hope.'."

"Yes, I remember. I just can't find it."

"Well, I thought that might mean enough to you not to lose it."

"It did mean something to me. The first time I had it, I had it displayed on the wall, but I thought that it was too violent."

"Oh, isn't that just like you. The most violent pacifist around."

"Is this some sort of trick? Did you take it from me when I didn't know it?"

"Now you're accusing me of taking it? That's rich." Zero crossed his arms defiantly.

"It's not lost. I'm sure of that."

"I want the saber, X."

"I don't know where it is."

"The saber!"

"I don't know-"

"The saber!" he clenched his fist in front of him angrily and stepped forward.

"Zero! Stop it!"

Zero pointed vehemently at X. "If you can't produce that saber, I'll have you dismantled, I guarantee it!"

Zero spun on his heel and staunchly walked out of the room, the hard metal of his boots sounding on the floor.

X had an angry glower on his face as Zero walked off. Once the door shut his eyes opened back up, sad and surprised. "Zero..."

He collapsed on his chair, stunned into silence. Nothing could have prepared him for that. Zero never flew off the handle so hard. X had seen in him battle, but that level of aggression was controlled. This was like the volcano had exploded. The same questions repeated in X's mind like an infinite loop. Why did Zero want to hurt him so much? Why was he so angry for not being able to find the saber? What had he done? He could find no answers to these questions here.

After a short time, the door suddenly prompted for entrance. "Come in," X answered, thinking it would be Zero, coming to apologize or explain himself.

Instead, Dr. Cain walked in. "X, I've come to check you out. We've had the meet-"

"Did you see Zero?"

"What?"

"Did you see Zero as you were walking by?"

"No, why?"

"He... he came in here and just... went off on me."

"Come in? X, you're not supposed to have visitors when under-"

"I know, I know, but I just couldn't take the monotony anymore. I wanted to apologize to him. By the way, I'd look into what's up with those guards out there."

"X, you're making it all the more difficult to entreat your innocence by breaking protocol."

"I know, but I can only take so much of this idleness. I'm going insane here. Please, tell me you can get me out of here. I just invited him here for a little while just to talk. I didn't know he was going to fly off the handle at me and... and..."

"Zero is not the issue here. You are. You risk being pegged as a loose cannon if you're not on your best behavior for a while. They're watching you like a hawk. They're ready for the slightest wrongdoing. You're lucky you have such a proven track record otherwise..."

"You mean I'm free to go?" X asked with a childlike face.

"Yes, X. You're absolved, you're released from house arrest."

"Woo-hoo!" X thrust his fist in the air.

"But, this is totally probationary. You understand that, X? You can't make another mistake."

"I won't, doctor," X said as he headed for the door.

"Be careful," Cain shouted as X's door shut behind him. "Youth..." Cain said to himself.

The door opened again and a guard popped in his head. "Does this mean we're supposed to be guarding _you_ now?"

* * *

Cory Sanders looked up at the sky and saw two full moons. He shook his head to clear his vision but it wasn't getting any better. Barely conscious of the fact he was walking, he hit his knee on a fireplug. "Ah, fuggin' shite fug, erggh." He lifted up his leg and staggered back into the side of the building.

"You okay there, Cory?" one of the patrons shouted from outside the bar door.

"Yeah, yeah," he shouted from outside the bar door. "Just hit my damn leg."

"That fire plug attack ya, Cory?" another younger man shouted from behind the door, holding a half-filled lowball.

"Ge' back inside, ya jackass!"

The small group laughed and went back inside. "See ya, Cory."

"Yeah, yeah," Cory again waved his hand dismissively to his friends. The city was half-lit by the bright neon of signs and windows in the dark blue haze of the sky, making his walk back home a little easier to his already impaired senses. The area was barren of human life, which was not surprising considering the cruddy locale of the dive bar he had just patronized. Bad neighborhood, good booze.

"Oh, gawd, it's gonna be h'ngover city tom'rr'w," he said as he put a hand up to the wall next to an alley to steady himself. He bent his head down to give the wave of nausea a chance to diffuse itself and spit sticky phlegm out. He sucked in his breath and let it out several times.

"Hey," a female voice uttered from inside the alley.

"Hello?" Cory perked up his head a little too fast.

"Hey, there. You look cute. Wanna come down here?" the voice said.

Cory stepped in front of the alley's mouth. "Who's there?"

"Why don't you come down here and see?"

Cory put a hand up to shade his eyes despite the fact there was no light to shade. "Izzat Jill?"

"Jill?" the voice muttered. "Well, why don't you come here and find out, big boy."

"If that's Jill..." he muttered to himself with a smile on his face.

Cory walked down halfway through the alleyway, passing cardboard boxes and garbage receptacles. "Hey, where're you?" He stopped in the middle of a step, staggering forward to recover himself. "Are you here?"

Cory suddenly felt a pair of heavy cold hands grab his shoulders from behind.

"Aah!" he shrieked. He tried to turn around to see who it was, but the hands held him fast, pinched in a metallic vice grip. He realized it was a robot holding him.

A figure stepped out from behind a large abandoned box. It was another slim reploid with a star-like helmet. "Who the hell are you?" Cory slurred frightened.

"Just your friendly neighborhood Maverick," he said as he looked down at his hands, at some device he was holding. A large green beam suddenly extended out about four feet. Its ethereal humming noise and sickly green glow colored the alley in lime.

The reploid glowered and said, "Now be a good little human and bleed." He switched his grip on the saber and plunged it upward into Cory's chest.

Cory spasmed and spurted up blood like a fountain, his head thrown back like a hooked piece of livestock.

"Jeez, Janus, watch out, you almost got me," the reploid holding him exclaimed.

"Quiet," Janus slid the saber out of the human's body, smooth as butter.

"Aw, jeez, man, how much blood do humans have?" Duplex moved his head to the side to avoid being spattered.

Janus held the saber back up behind him and quickly thrust it forward and upward, skewering it through the head of Cory Sanders. His head split apart like a gruesome Picasso painting as blood gushed down onto every object within a foot radius. Janus removed the saber like a toothpick from bread. One side of the human's head, now barely distinguishable, fell forward, sliding off the shoulder. Duplex dropped him fast.

"God, Janus, was that really necessary?" Duplex grumbled, shaking his hands of thick slimy blood.

"Gruesome and bloody. We need these, my friend." Janus clicked off the blade and held the metal rod up to the light to examine it. "Good enough."


	11. Act IV, Scene 1

**ACT IV, Scene 1**

X glanced around the area as he reformed from the transport. Snow was bombarding the white landscape. X hadn't expected such a blizzard in the middle of the day. The lightness of the sun made it look less intense, but the storm was pretty severe. Not that he cared - he was waterproof and cold didn't affect him. X held his hand in front of his eyes to block out the snow searing at him and oriented himself. He looked for the rock cave he knew was close by.

X spotted it some hundred meters away, a black maw waiting for a meal. He started the long trudging path up to it, running in the powdery snow, jumping the crevasses in his way. He was eager to escape the storm bearing down on him and gladly slogged through the entrance. The blanket of chill lifted off as the shelter of the dimly illuminated cavern closed in. In a short time he met a cliff and started climbing up the jagged slope. Using his traction stabilization system made the climbing a lot easier, plus he had dug out the stones for handholds. He peeked his head over the top of the snow-covered bluff and saw the machine, strangely out of place in the dark rock tunnel.

It didn't strike X as odd for a console projector standing in the middle of a frozen cave because he had seen it so many times before. He hoisted himself above the rock face and approached the machine with a slight smile on his face. X's face lit up as the terminal control function turned on. Hitting some more buttons, X looked up at the circular platform attached to the terminal, waiting for action.

The capsule's circumference filled out in a teal holographic curtain. The blue color wiped away to reveal a hologram of a kind-faced short scientist with a thick white beard. X could only assume it was white due to the bluescale color of the image.

"Hello, Dr. Light," X smiled.

"Hello again, X. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too."

"X, this capsule is no longer capable of upgrading your system."

"I know, I know. I just... need someone to talk to right now."

"X..."

"It's just... all my friends are acting so weird around me now. Everyone's suddenly become... Well, Zero. Zero just acted crazy around me. I mean, I know..." X took a deep breath. "Okay, here's what happened. I accidentally shot Zero and, granted, I would be somewhat angry with that too. And I would have apologized to him sooner, but I was under house arrest and couldn't see him. And he knows that it was an accident, but he just won't... get that. He just came in, he wanted to see my Z-saber, and I couldn't find it. And I still can't find it." X said that last line as an aside. "Why does he want to see my saber so bad? It's not like he needs it. It was a gift from him to me in the heat of battle. But it's not like his existence depended on it. It seemed so random for him to ask for it, just out of the blue like that. He just crazed out, like he had a personality error. Maybe he thinks I'm going against him by shooting him, but I apologized to him. He just doesn't understand that I didn't mean it. So is that just normal? Does he feel like I betrayed him?" X looked up to Dr. Light with innocent eyes.

"X, I'm only a holographic representation of Dr. Light. I don't have the cognitive functions to process these questions. I was only created to offer you upgrades."

"I know, I know, but... forget it." X turned around and sat in the cold snow, exasperated. "I just need some answers. I want some answers and I can't get them because you're dead." X tucked his chin into his body. "Why was I even created? You created me for a world of peace but my existence just seems to cause nothing but conflict."

The Dr. Light hologram watched X from his immovable stance, a seemingly sad expression on his face. "X, if I was capable of giving you advice, I would tell you that your friends, if they truly are your friends, will forgive you for any trespasses you may have committed."

"So what should I do?"

"I cannot process that question. But I think you know what you need to do."

"No, I don't, I really don't."

"I'm afraid I can't help you anymore than that X."

"I know. You weren't designed with cognitive functions, blah blah blah." X stepped up to the console again. "Goodbye, father."

"Goodbye, X."

"I'll see you again." X switched the emitter off and watched the form of Dr. Light wipe away to nothingness.

X turned away and stared out into the mouth of the tunnel, gazing at nothing. "Zero..." he muttered. "What am I going to do with you?"

* * *

"Is that what you think?"

"What?"

"About this, the paranoia."

"I do not recall what the psychological term is, but there is something in humans that makes them scared of what they are. For example, a worker who watches others for stealing may be a kleptomaniac himself."

"So you're saying X is paranoid about Mavericks because he is a Maverick. That's just speculation. And you're using a human illustration. Reploids aren't humans."

"We are all more human than you realize. Reploid A.I. passes the Turing Test with flying colors. It's no wonder they are subject to human fallacies. X is the first of us, the prototype. Prototypes always have flaws in their systems. Likely, that's where the start of the Maverick virus lies, some flaw in his programming. The information is there, you just need to think about it."

"It's not. You- you need other evidence. Harder evidence, otherwise it's just conjecture."

"X being a Maverick is not so hard to think about. A Maverick may still be a Maverick even if it makes no harmful action against humans or Maverick Hunters."

"I guess that's true."

"And it is no crime if X hates humans yet still does his job."

"I- it..."

"For example, X's weapon is his to do with as he wants, right? Off hours? It's not yours anymore, you gave it to him."

"Janus-"

"Perhaps he wishes to write a manifesto denouncing the human race. He's not a Maverick then, is he?"

"Janus! Stop it!" Zero grabbed hold of Janus' shoulders and faced him toward himself. "If you know that X has become a Maverick then just tell me that. Don't give me a run around!"

Janus did not look fazed from being shook by Zero. "I do know one thing he said."

"What?" Zero's expression dropped.

"Or rather, bore witness to his confession of what he did."

"By all things held sacred, what did he say?"

Janus took a deep breath. "He told me that he had killed."

"Killed... a man?"

"Man, woman, who is to say?"

Zero let go of Janus' shoulders and held onto his own head. His eyes narrowed, almost crossing. "Man, woman, human. Killed. He killed a human. He's MA-A-A-AV-ERI-ICK!" Zero's voice faltered, jerking and vibrating like a stream delay. Janus stepped back in surprise.

Zero spun around and swung his fist into the nearby wall. The metal wrenched apart giving way to a fist. Zero dragged his arm through the wall, creating the horrendous screeching of cold metal tearing through metal. Even Janus winced for what surely had to be gut-wrenchingly painful, yet Zero's rage precluded any sort of physical feeling. Zero's eyes pallored ghostly white as he fell to all fours, trembling as if from a seizure.

Janus walked around Zero's shaking form. The crimson android had no consciousness around him, all thought processes had been hung. So Janus had no fear of anything he might do. He was as helpless as a baby. The gray reploid sneered. "That's right..."

"Zero!" Dr. Cain shouted from the other end of the hallway being escorted by several reploid soldiers.

"Help! Help! Over here! Zero!" Janus quickly called to them, frantically pointing to Zero.

"Get a repair kit. Save him," Cain demanded. The reploids deployed, one ran back out of the hall, the others flipped the seizing Zero onto his back, avoiding his flailing limbs. Janus stepped back to let them by. They held down his body to try and suppress his movements, but it took all their strength to stop him from bursting out.

Dr. Cain quickly hobbled over to the gray reploid. "Janus, what in blazes happened here?" His face was a mixture of rage and apprehension.

"A system error? I'm afraid I'm as clueless as you are."

"I've never seen anything like this in a reploid before." Cain leaned forward slightly over Zero's vibrating body. His eyes were shut now, as if in the chains of a nightmare. "Is it some sort of mechanical failure?"

A soldier reploid broke through the group, holding a portable computer. He flipped the box open and pulled out two retractable jacks. These he plugged into Zero's helmet. Cain looked over the reploid soldier's shoulder as the black and green monitor speedily scrolled through lines of code.

"System scan commencing," he said.

"A memory fault... there," Cain pointed.

"Zero!" X called out as he turned the corner. He ran down to the collected mass around Zero's fallen body. Janus sprang up and held him back.

"No, X, it's better if you give them room. They've already found the fault and they're fixing it."

"What happened?"

"He started shaking uncontrollably and fell to the floor. It's best if the problem works itself out."

"No way. I'm not going to abandon him now."

"There's nothing you can do for him, X. Just stay out of the way. Go to my quarters. I'll meet you there and give you a report."

"But... but..."

"It's the best thing you can do for him now, believe me."

X looked over Janus' head at Zero. The uniformed reploids were totally covering him. X couldn't even see his body now. He looked back to Janus, putting his trust in him, hoping the sincerity on his face was genuine. X reluctantly nodded and walked away.

As soon as he was out of viewing range Janus jogged back to the fray. "What's happen-"

Zero sat up like a spring, eyes wide open. He grunted in pain and held his hand up to the wires sticking out of his helmet. He yanked the jacks out of his head and threw them on the floor.

"Ow, what happened?"

"You had some sort of memory fault," Dr. Cain responded. "Apparently it's fixed itself. Didn't even have a chance to start diagnosing it."

"I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember is talking with Janus about something. Whatever it was, it must not have had time to save to my resolved memory."

"I've never seen anything like this before," Cain said. "Do you feel all right now?"

"Yeah, I feel like nothing ever happened."

"My word, this is odd." Cain put a finger to his lips. "Well, I don't know what else to do. Perhaps you should make a trip to the diagnostic chamber,"

"I will when I get a chance." Zero rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, all right then." Cain thought the situation demanded more of his time, but he really couldn't think of anything else to do. "Come along, men." Cain whisked his green and red cape. The soldier with the diagnostic computer snapped it shut and stood up and the reploids walked away behind their human commander.

"Are you really feeling fine, Zero?" Janus asked as Cain disappeared around a corner.

"I remember everything."

"What?"

"Cain can't know about X. It would destroy him and his work. It would expel him from his job, and MHHQ would be undone without his guidance. He's already under constant fire for discovering X in the first place, possibly bringing the Maverick virus upon us. And he's the only one who would prevent the military from making us the humans' disposable soldiers. Now tell me, did he truly confess it?"

"X? Sir, you've just had an episode of sorts. Are you sure you wouldn't lie down or something?" Janus began subserviently brushing off Zero's chest plate. Zero grabbed his hand sharply.

"Lying down is for humans. Answer me."

Janus looked down and sighed. "I can do better than that, sir. You can see it for yourself."

Janus pulled Zero into a nearby computer room. The lab was dark and abandoned of people. Janus used the nearest console to access his personal files, skimming through code and accessing programs. He quickly brought up a video feed of his living quarters.

"Stay here a moment, I will return."

Janus left the computer room, leaving Zero to his own devices. He could not stay staring at the computer screen for more than five seconds before he began wandering around the table in the middle of the room, idly punching his fist into his other hand. One couldn't begin to count all the thought processes in his head, but they were all subdued by anticipation.

Not long later, Janus' visage blipped onto the video screen, filling the monitor space. Zero practically dashed to the console.

"Zero?"

"I'm here."

"I sent X to my room so that I could draw the confession out for you to witness. I'll set up a video comm connection between him and me. I'm sending you an encrypted spectator stream so that you can listen in on what X is saying. You'll be able to see him, but he won't see you."

"All right," Zero looked upon the screen with emotionlessness.

"I will talk with him about his hatred of humans, watch for his returns."

The video player moved to a blank screen, the dim light casting a looming glow to Zero's furrowed features. He watched and waited, never moving at all, trapped in a state of patience.

Janus, from his position in the next room, hurriedly set up the system for a video connection down to his quarters, plus a second read-only stream on the client side. He did not want to waste a minute of time, lest Zero's anger start to fault. The programs connected and Janus was treated to a view of his room by way of his console.

"X? X, are you there?"

The hero with the blue helmet quickly made it to the screen. "Finally. What are you doing there? Why this set up? And what's with Zero?"

Janus responded, unbeknownst to Zero. "Calm down, X. Zero just had a bit of a spill. They're still making some repairs, but he'll be fine. He had a memory fault, but it seems to be all fixed now."

"Fixed? A memory fault? How did that happen?"

Zero heard X's response, but not Janus', though he knew something was said between the two statements. It was like hearing half a conversation.

"Janus, I'm not getting anything from you," he said as if Janus could hear him. Zero cranked the volume on the monitor up, but only heard the hissing feedback.

X continued, "Why do they have to be so foolish? Can't they figure out what his problem is?"

"Alas, the humans could not find the problem before it disappeared. Do you think it could be the work of Mavericks?"

"Mavericks? Ergh," X rubbed his face with his head. "First, I'm arrested, then Zero falls under. What kind of weird world do I live in? Everything's falling apart."

"If not Mavericks, then could it be humans?"

"Humans? Why would they betray their protectors, especially their finest?"

"Well, General Brandle did attempt to strip Zero of his rank."

"General Brandle isn't worth the ground he walks on. The humans made a mistake when they instated him."

Zero heard the words 'human' and 'mistake' as X's temper rose. The stoic reploid sat in the chair and watched the rest unfold.

"Are you saying that the humans should be removed?"

"No," X denied vehemently. "But the military presence should. They should all be eradicated from MHHQ. They have no place here."

Zero's brow furrowed further.

"Indeed, General Brandle certainly stabbed his own comrade in the back and received no discipline for it."

"Stabbed? More like gutted and sliced." X made a motion of plunging a knife into a person's back and slicing it out.

"It does make one desire to have the humans removed from HQ, doesn't it."

"I just want them out of my life. I wish things could go back to the way they were, without people breathing down my neck. When did this all start, Janus? My reputation, tarnished. Zero's furious with me."

"In truth, I cannot say. Such things have a way of snowballing."

X sighed. "Where's Zero now?"

"Ah, the doctor said that he should rest in the diagnostic chamber. He may be there now."

X waved his hand dismissedly. "I won't bother him then." X leaned back in the chair and sighed. "He needs his rest. Ah, Janus, you might be my only friend left in the world. At least you're the only one I can trust. "

"I strive to please you, sir."

"Good night."

"Good night, sir."

Mega Man X's face disappeared as the connection closed. Zero had his hands clasped in front of him, still watching the video feed, despite there being nothing more than a blank monitor. Zero's eyes coldly stared at the screen, not even watching it, seeing past it, never moving.

The doors parted open and Janus slowly stepped in, behind him was Duplex, casting his bright yellow sheen.

"Did you see it?" Janus asked.

"I saw it." Zero interrupted angrily.

"Did you hear how he mocked humans. How he demanded they be eradicated?"

"I said, _I saw it!_" he screamed.

Janus bowed his head in deference.

"There is just one more piece of evidence you must see," Janus gestured to Duplex to come forward.

"I don't care. I don't want to see it." Zero shut his eyes and shook his head.

"You must, sir."

The gold reploid did his best to act as subordinate as possible and held up a metal rod, resting it lightly on his fingertips like it was sacred.

Zero opened his eyes and picked it up. He held it outward at eye level. It was caked in brown, dried blood.

"My saber... X's saber."

With his head still bowed, Janus said, "There is a log that states X transported out of here at 2300 hours. We found his saber then. You may have heard about the unsolved murder in the city. The blood tested pos-"

"_Shut up!_" Zero shouted. "I see it," he muttered. He lowered the saber slowly and looked directly into Janus' eyes. All the thought processes running in his head condensed down to one single declarative concept. "X must be destroyed. And I'll be the one to do it."

"What?" Duplex yelped.

"Sir, please try to think this over. X has given years of loyal service-"

"And it's all meant nothing. When I became a Maverick Hunter I swore a duty to destroy all Mavericks wherever they are, no matter what. Now there's one in our midst and it must be destroyed."

"But X-"

"X will rust and rot. I will kill him nine times over. I will see to it."

"Try to think of how X might feel. What X might be going through. To be the first of us-"

"Mavericks don't feel. That's their exact flaw. Is there some reason you're trying to discourage me? Do you think Mavericks should not be destroyed? Are you siding with X?"

"Never, sir," Janus said astonishedly. "I would never side with X."

"Good, you will be my witness. I will have X's head. I'll gut him with the very weapon he betrayed me with." Zero turned the Z-saber on and a beam of green light extended out. He held it out in battle stance.

"Sir, please, control yourself." Janus pushed Zero's arms down. "Such a brutal death is not fitting for X, he's too decorated for that. Nor should the authorities handle him. There is no honor in a death brought by trials and laws. Let him die a gentle death. At least give him that."

Zero kept his arms upright, gripping tightly to the rod.

"For all those years of friendship?" Janus continued.

Zero looked down at his saber. "Fine, X deserves at least that."

"When X is next scheduled for diagnostics. You may do it then."

Zero doused his saber. The green beam shrunk and dissipated.

* * *

"What in bleeding hell is this!" Zero practically jumped on the table where X and another hunter were sitting.

"Zero? Uh, what's wrong?" X said. The other hunter remained speechless and flabbergasted, mouth hung in a tight 'o'.

Zero yelled, "You know damn well what's wrong. You arranged this, didn't you? I know you did. Just admit it!"

"Admit what?"

"I'm being sent to Eurasia! The space colony! They're making me commander of the Maverick Hunters in Eurasia. I just got the message. Eurasia! Millions of miles away!" Zero grabbed X by the collar. "What did you have to do with this, X? What did you tell them?"

"I didn't say anything! No one said anything to me about it. This is the first I've heard of it."

Zero grabbed X by his chest armor and throttled him. "Bullshit. Don't lie to me. Would you betray me even further? You want me out of the picture. To take command for yourself?"

X locked eyes with Zero, not taking aggressive action, since that was his nature. "What is wrong with you? Maybe they are right in sending you there. This time here is making you stir-crazy. You need to get away from all this, it's killing you. You need to get a fresh perspective."

"You need to send me out to die, is that it? Christ, X, just pull the plug on me now."

"Zero, this is nothing you can't handle."

"Oh, I can't handle it? Can I? That's not even the bleeding point! The point is, you'll be made the sole commander when I'm gone!"

"So? What's the matter with that? I had control of the Maverick Hunters while you were missing, while you were recovering. I'm quite capable of leading them."

Zero grabbed X by his shoulder armor and pulled him to eye level. "We were a team, X. A team. Partners, me and you. Why are you trying to destroy that? Why?"

"I don't want to destroy it. I want to see you get better. Look at how mad you are!"

"I'm not mad, you're mad. You're walking a fine line, X. You have to be careful or you'll get hurt."

"What are you talking about? Now I'm glad I am taking command."

"You'll never have it. Never. I'll make sure of it."

"Let me go, goddammit. Have you gone mental?"

"Your little incident with attacking a fellow officer and you think the slate is wiped clean? Well, some of us don't forget so easily. You're not fit to be commander of the Maverick Hunters."

"You're not fit to command anything!" X retorted.

Zero dropped X's shoulders and punched him clean across the jaw. X collapsed under the table, flat on his stomach, eyes shut from the blast. Zero stood over him, holding his clenched fist like a hammer of judgment.

"What have you done?" X's copper reploid friend stood from his chair aghast.

"No one questions my authority. X is a cheap knock-off of what I am."

X stirred and turned on his back. He wiped his jaw and glared at Zero.

Zero continued, "Oh, I will follow orders. I will do as they say. Because that is my duty. And you will take my place, because that is your duty. We all have something to follow."

Zero turned on his heel and walked out of the lounge, his blond hair swishing back and forth like a pendulum.

* * *

_REC SYSTEM 1.2  
Copyright © 2105, 2109, 2114 _

_Real Mem 8192 TB  
Avail Mem 32768 TB _

_Primary Data Cache 512 KB  
Primary Inst Cache 768 KB  
Secondary Cache 32768KB _

_Testing file system..._  
_Testing files...  
OK! _

_Login: janus221347  
Pass: _

_Welcome! _

_Janus2214347> new log -nx _

_Created new logfile 6/29/21XX 184934 _

_Today, X told me he could not believe his eyes at Zero's outburst in the lounge. He told me Zero's programming seemed like it had been replaced, altered, deleted even. That Zero was once a self-controlled man. Level-headed. A leader. He asked me if he had gone mad, because there could be no other reason that he would strike him. I told him I could not answer, yet I did not think him mad. I told X that he would just have to watch and see. _


	12. Act IV, Scene 2

**ACT IV, Scene 2**

"You're sure?" 

"Positive." 

Zero clenched a hand to his chin, propped up on the coffee table. "What about other people? Have they said anything about it?" 

"No. As a matter of fact, they would probably say he's as normal as ever." Cain grinded his walking stick into the carpet. Both of them were sitting angled out from the table, not looking at each other, but not looking away. 

"I can't understand it," Zero whispered to himself. 

"Zero, I think you should apologize to X before you leave." 

"Apologize, bah," Zero waved his hand in the air. "What good would that do?" 

"If something happens to either of you when you're gone, you'd both regret it. Believe me, I wish I had said a great deal of things to my wife before she died." 

"That is a human reaction. Regret, hindsight." 

"Don't be so sure. Even though you're a reploid you still have as full a range of emotions as humans. If you didn't, I'd think I'd rue the day you were created." 

"I do... rue." Zero covered his eyes from his still propped hand. "We are so different and similar at the same time. We are on an equal level, maybe even superior in some ways, yet humans are still the dominant force in society." 

"Zero," Cain said as he put down his coffee. "Power isn't about strength, it's about control. Humans and reploids are strange together. Humans have an innate counter-reaction to slavery and captivity, but robots have had servitude imprinted into their personality since day one. People used them like napkins, wiping their mouths and then throwing them away. Humans have been in control for centuries and they are distinctly reluctant to give up power easily." 

Zero said, "But humans are split on total reploid freedom, just like reploids are split with Mavericks. Either side winning means losing something very valuable." He tucked his hands into his lap. "I guess reploids act more like humans than I thought." 

"I couldn't agree more." 

The door opened and the blue and white armor of X caught Zero's eye. Several tense moments were shared as they glanced to each other. Each one wondered if violence would erupt. Cain heaved himself up out of the chair, hoisting himself on his stick's rubber handle. 

"I have work to get to then. Remember what I said, Zero." Cain acknowledged X with a quick greeting and looked back at the red commander as he exited. 

"Hello, X," Zero said. The reserved anger in his tone was obvious. 

"Zero..." he paused to collect his thoughts. "What is your deal? Why do you hate me so much?" 

"Hate you? I never hated you." 

"Is it because I fired on you? I told you it was an accident." 

"X, this goes way beyond that. This goes deeper than our friendship. This goes to the very heart and soul of who we are. And we're obviously different. There is the question of which side you belong to, whether you serve me or not." 

"What? Serve you? I thought we were equals." 

"Have _I_ ever fired on a fellow Maverick Hunter? Have _I_ ever attacked one?" 

"Are you going to hang me with that forever? Until we're dead, are you going to keep reminding me that I made a mistake? A simple mistake?" 

"Some mistakes cannot be easily erased. I just need to know - are you on my side, or aren't you?" 

"Side? Of course, we're on the same side. What would make you think otherwise? Just because I fired into you? It was an accident, can't you see that?" 

"I don't see the accidents, I see the evidence." 

"Evidence? Evidence of what?" 

"If you don't know the answer to that, then I certainly don't have reason to tell you." 

"What does that mean?" 

"It means you know why and I don't need to tell you." 

X gave up. "I have absolutely no idea what you're saying." 

"Don't play dumb with me. You're not as ill-equipped as other Hunters. You're sharp. And as lethal as I am. You know what I'm talking about." 

"No, I do not. Wait a minute..." Zero turned around and stared at the coffee machine. X suddenly started to realize what he was saying. "Wait a minute, do you think I'm Maverick?" 

Zero kept his back to X. 

"Zero, don't be ridiculous. We've both been tested, neither of us can be infected with the Maverick virus." 

"Tests can fail. No one knows how the virus got started. Some think it may not be a virus. No one really knows what it is. Except for one thing - there was no virus before you arrived on the scene." 

"Most scientists think it's a flaw in reploid programming. I'm not a reploid so that precludes me from getting it. I can't believe you would suspect that of me. I've never done anything against humans. I'm a pacifist. I fight for peace." 

"Rather contradictory statement, don't you think?" 

"Would you even listen to me, if I said anything?" 

"As they say, if the shoe fits." 

"What shoe? What fits? What has given you any reason to think I'm a Maverick?" 

Zero suddenly spun out of his chair and looked X straight in the eyes. "Like I said. These little mind games won't work on me. Mark my words, you've done something terrible and the world will know and your attempts to take command of MHHQ won't work. I won't see you condemn humanity." 

"I'm not trying to take command. You're being a stubborn jackass." 

Zero thrust his face into X's. "I'll see you in hell, X." He walked past X and out the door. 

* * *

Janus answered the summons to X's office immediately. He found X with his back turned away from him sitting at the coffee table with one arm propping up his head. "Janus reporting, sir," he said as he did a quick salute, seen by no one. X said nothing back, just kept slumped over one arm on his desk. "Sir, you summoned me? Is there something wrong?" 

"All and nothing, Janus." 

"If I might ask, what does that mean?" 

X said nothing again. 

"Are there more problems with Zero?" 

"Some," X sighed. "He transferred you under his command, didn't he? As his lieutenant?" 

"He did, sir, but that makes me no less dutiful to you. Are you concerned that he's overriding your authority?" 

"Don't ask me any more questions about him, I have no answers. I can't even get them from the man himself." X slumped forward, like a man leaning on a bar. "He called me a Maverick, Janus." X sat up again. "All those years and he considers me a Maverick." 

"It surely cannot be that he thinks you a Maverick. It must be some miscommunication. Some stress-" 

"There's someone here. Someone who's been feeding him these lies." 

"A spy? A saboteur?" 

"That's gotta be it. Is it? I only ask you because you seem to be close to this situation." 

"X, I hate to make judgments, but this may be your paranoia creeping forth again." 

X turned around and shrunk back down to the table, his eyes shut tight to block out his ignorance. "Oh, you're right, how could I be so stupid?" 

"Remember what happened last time. You must not get carried away. Reasonable, but unfounded theory, sir." 

X paused, contemplating his next question. "Janus, as his lieutenant, what do you think of Zero?" 

"I think he is a fine strong officer with a record to match," he said, proudly at standing attention. 

"And you don't think him acting odd recently?" 

"No, sir." 

"Not even from striking me?" 

"Well, uh," Janus hesitated from the curveball, turned away and scratched the back of his head. He quickly recovered. "Well, I'm sure he had his reasons. I'm not accusing you of lying, sir, of course, but Zero's motivations are his and his alone." 

X waited again before asking his next question. "Do you think there's anything I can do to win him back?" 

"I'm sure this will all soon blow over if you have patie-" 

"No, no, there must be something to convince him I'm not Maverick. He can't be that stubborn. I mean I have a proven track record and tests show and... and despite all that he knows he still..." X cast his eyes down. "Never mind." 

"I'm sorry, sir, I have other duties that need to be finished before the day is out. Is there anything more you need?" 

"No," X mumbled. 

Janus turned to leave. 

"Wait, please tell support to configure the diagnostic chamber for me." 

"Aye, sir," Janus stated and exited the room. 

Once the door closed behind him, Janus' face immediately turned to one of grimacing anger. Emotion plagued his face. He navigated the corridors and halls to that secret meeting spot, again another stupid move on his part, mentioning the exact place in an insecure communication, interrupting a perfect opportunity with X. Janus turned the corner and met Duplex's disapproving yellow gleam hiding in the shadows. 

"What do you want now?" Janus said angrily. Duplex opened his mouth, but Janus continued arguing. "What was so important you had to pull me away from X to cater to your little whims?" 

Duplex looked hurt at first, like a disciplined dog, then he collected himself and approached the gray reploid. 

"I have had it, I have put up with too much with you. I have been abused, ignored, and I've given you enough money to plate yourself in gold. And what have I gotten out of it? Nothing. I wanted to be a squadron commander, but I'm still picking pieces of reploid off the field. Am I right?" 

"Yes, you are," Janus replied calmly. 

"I am... what?" Duplex was obviously confused. His second harangue was stopped before it started. 

"You are right. You've paid me a great deal of money and you're no better off than you were before." 

"I'm right. Oh, I'm right, he says. Well, doesn't that make everything better?" Duplex mocked with his hands on his hips. 

"You've still got the fight in you. The desire. I thought you might have lost it, but now I'm encouraged." Janus took Duplex's hand and held it like a mother. "You've horribly misjudged me though. The solution is as simple as it presented itself in the beginning. Zero is being dethroned because of his behavior." 

"I haven't heard of this," Duplex said warily. 

"Oh, it's not official. It's a pigeonhole. He's being sent out to the space colony and he won't be back for quite some time. This will leave X in charge and what happens when officials go away? Everyone moves up a rank to fill in the positions." 

"But there's no way I'd get promoted with my record. I haven't done anything to stand out." 

"Aha, not yet. Nothing that anyone knows about. That's why we delve into the records. We find the port, connect, and the next time you have performance reviews your commendations are glowing. You'll be next in line." 

Duplex snatched back his hand. "Whoa, wait a minute, nobody said anything about hacking records. On our own servers? This is too far for me. First, we brought allegations against Zero. I had no problem with that. Then you wanted me to antagonize X and I almost died. Then you had me steal his saber. And then we... you know... And now you want me to break into our own computers? I can't do that. That's... that's sabotage." 

"Surely this is a lesser thing you've done in the past. My god, you've killed a human. A definitive Maverick act. You don't want to be called a Maverick, do you?" 

"But, but, but wait, you can't do anything. You'd be accused, too." 

"Will I? Your word against mine. And whom would they consider trustworthier around here? Zero's lieutenant or the bothersome Duplex?" 

Duplex's eyes narrowed as he knew he had no recourse. The debate had been closed. Strangely, Janus had just threatened him into doing what he wanted. There was no turning back now. It would have been a waste to stop now. This was all or nothing, he just hadn't realized it when he had gotten into it. Janus waited for his answer. He knew that Duplex hadn't the processing power to realize that if he did accuse Duplex of killing that human, an act they had already framed X for, his entire web would be unwoven. 

"Well?" Janus asked. 

"When do we start?" 

"Tonight. Gather your elements, we needn't worry about X or Zero. They will be occupied. The log files get backed up at 0200 so you can make your changes then. Go now! Post haste." 

Duplex looked Janus in the eye for a long time, thinking about his next move. Janus returned the gaze. He had no fear, because Duplex had no choice but to accept. He was merely trying to make himself seem bigger than he really was, that he had any control whatsoever. The illusion had to be there for the plan to work, as in all things. 

"Fine. But if you don't deliver, it's over." 

"You will be satisfied." 


	13. Act IV, Scene 3

**ACT IV, Scene 3**

"Reading: energy output nominal. Power source stable," Tyro said brightly as he read from the monitor, flipping switches. He glanced up to X, who was waiting patiently by the vertical glass tube to enter in. He had one hand propped up on the glass, as if he was tired or strung out from a long day. His back was turned to him so he couldn't see X's expression, but Tyro fearfully imagined there was no smile on his face.

Tyro glanced back to the monitor and watched the status bar reach one hundred percent.

"The capsule's ready anytime, sir."

X made no motion that he heard. He simply kept staring down at the floors as if still waiting. Tyro knew X must've heard him so he did not repeat himself.

X's hands went to the side of his head and he took off his helmet slowly, revealing messed up black hair. Tyro had never seen X with his helmet off and looked at it wondrously. He looked very human without it.

"I can't remember the last time I took this off," X said, looking at it, turning it on his fingers. "It's been a long time." He ran his fingers over his head, feeling the sensation of his synthetic hair. Purposeless, but somehow necessary. He set the helmet on the status console attached to the capsule.

"I was born in a capsule like this," X said, now responding to Tyro. "Well, perhaps not born, but this is where my first memories were."

"Uh, yes, sir." Tyro wasn't sure what to make of this, but he went with the flow.

"Some thirty years ago. The information was so badly eroded, no one knew how long I was in there. Found in an archeological dig. I and the holographic capsules are all that's left of him."

"Sir?" Tyro perked his head out.

"Dr. Light, my father." X looked the machine up and down. "And the reploids and Mavericks will be all that's left of me. The Creator of the Chaos. I wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn't been a Maverick Hunter."

"We'd all be a lot worse off, sir," Tyro responded to X's out-loud thinking.

X looked at his X-Buster arm, a rounded and bulging cannon, like a growth. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

X hit the latch on the capsule door and it sprung open a crack. A hydraulic hiss emitted as he opened the chamber access all the way. The two leg wires and arm wires dangled from their respective positions, while the CPU cord hung from the capsule's top.

X stepped up and then stopped suddenly. Behind him, Tyro, ready to assist, stopped also in surprise.

"Tyro," X asked. "If you had to, do you think you could kill a human?"

"Uh, sir?" Tyro asked innocently.

X turned to him seriously. "If you had to. If the fate of many others depended on it?"

"I suppose I would have to be presented with that situation before I could make a decision."

"Back in history, humans had to kill each other in order to survive. Then they killed each other for power and greed. Now we're here, the reploids, and still bound by their government. Because we are free from the bonds of the three robotic laws."

"I believe that humans and reploids should have the same rights and laws. We can feel the same, so we are the same."

"Hm," X smirked. He stepped into the capsule and lay against the naugahyde cushion. Tyro moved around X to attach his cords as he spoke. "I like your philosophy, but I can't agree with you. We are different. We are stronger. We can change ourselves at will, without difficulty. And we are ageless. That is the problem. Human lives are finite. We can go as long as our parts hold out and when they fade we simply transfer over to a newer body. It frees us and imprisons us. The trade-off is we do not have offspring. We're locked in our own cycle."

"But we can make more reploids. That's sorta offspring."

"Kind of. Yes, but they're always their own reploid. No influence of those who came before, only with A.I. programs. So we are immortal and multiplying. Two lives trying to coexist on one planet and that's where the conflict lies."

Tyro sat up again, and inserted the CPU cord into the back of X's skull base. If this were disconnected without the proper shutdown procedure, X's memory would be permanently damaged, so he was careful with its placement. He stood back, done with his connections.

X continued, "I would rather die tomorrow than know I would have to live a thousand more years of war."

Tyro, not familiar with X waxing poetically, had no response. "Sir, if you no longer want to be a Maverick Hunter, there's nothing saying that you have to. You can quit at anytime. You should move on."

"Move on? I can't now. Not when I'm in so deep. I'm the one responsible for all this. Every reploid was based off my design. So was the Maverick virus. I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't do something to fight it. To fight for peace."

"Sir, I know you're a pacifist, and I admire that you still fight. But perhaps you weren't meant for this line of work."

"No, Tyro. I was." X looked back to his arm cannon again. Tyro saw it and became forlorn.

"If it's any consolation, sir, I'm proud to have been based on a design such as yours. Whether I go Maverick or not."

X made no answer. He just lay there, leaned against the back of the capsule, wires sticking out of his extremities. He looked beyond the point of no return.

"Ready, sir," Tyro blandly said, leaving X's sorrows unanswered, for he knew no other recourse.

X nodded in acknowledgment. Tyro pulled over the glass case of the capsule, pressure hissing in as the thick plate closed and latched, lighting an LED green. He walked around back to the console and started the diagnostic program. It would run its course through X's system and X would 'sleep' in the meantime, perchance to dream.


	14. Act V, Scene 1

**ACT V, Scene 1**

Whirring sounds of the mainframe room sent out waves of white noise that muted other noises. The ivory floors were pinpricked with holes for aeration. It seemed like a hospital for technology with its absurdly absolute sanitation. Janus and Duplex, tucked in the corner behind some machines, waited for the clock to hit its target. The colon separating hours from minutes blinked its last and the digits flickered to 02:00. Janus distinctly heard the sound of the supercomputer next to him modify to a higher pitch, indicating the log backup was beginning.

"All right, go ahead." Janus forcefully pulled out Duplex's hand and fed a disk into it. "The security cameras have already been taken care of. Just hurry up." Duplex curled his chubby fingers around it and pulled out the keyboard from the terminal with his other hand as he inserted the disk into the black wooden cabinet. Janus stepped out to the side.

"Don't go too far," Duplex whined.

"I'll watch out for security."

Duplex accessed the program on the file system that stopped the logging process. The program gave no confirmation that it had worked or was hanging or still in the process or caused an error. It was an illegal hacking program, so all the niceties of commercial software were gone. Duplex had to assume it had worked and accessed the file system. He dived into the personnel records and searched for his own name.

He opened it up and the profile program displayed all his vital stats at their less than gleaming stature.

But the file was in read-only. He looked on the toolbar for something to edit his information with. He found the edit command, but an error dialog popped up, telling him he needed Level 3 clearance to edit personnel.

"Janus," Duplex whispered, inaudible in the noise. "Janus?... Janus!"

Janus whipped around angrily. "What?"

"The program says I need Level 3 clearance to edit my profile."

Janus turned to him "Just enter the password I told you to."

"There's no place to put it."

Janus frustratedly came over the console to look at the monitor. "Bah, click OK first."

Duplex did so. A box prompting for a password came up. "Oh."

Janus shifted his eyes to Duplex, glaring at him hatefully. "Work faster. We don't have great time."

The records screen now allowed him to edit the various text boxes dotted around the window. Quickly, he replaced the blank or nearly blank information boxes with the data he and Janus went over earlier, adding in three commendations for valor, increasing the number of kills, and entering a different set of system specs that made him a more battle-ready robot than he was. He saved the changes and exited the program.

"Done," Duplex declared.

Janus came over to check the monitor. "You idiot, were you going to show everyone where you've been?" Janus snapped, returning to the file system screen, where the cursor was obviously highlighting Duplex's record and date of modification. Janus worked fast to clean up the mess, using techniques too fast for Duplex to study. He finished up, returned the monitor to an idle state, and shoved the keyboard back on the sliding tray.

"Done- wha?" The keyboard tray sprung back out, as it often did if it was caught on a cord. He dug his fingers back into the cabinet and found a ribbon-like IDE cable jamming the works. Curious as to why a hardware cable would be outside the casing he trailed his fingers along it and traced it to under the keyboard. Fearfully, he tilted the peripheral up and saw a small circuit board taped onto it.

"Damn it all to hell!" Janus exclaimed.

"What? What is it?"

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, ignoring the question just made. He shook the keyboard to show the green board. "This is a key stroke logger. It keeps an external log of what keys were typed. Now they can trace back our steps and find out what we did."

"Aah!" Duplex exclaimed. He ripped the circuit board off from the scotch tape, threw it on the floor, and smashed it with his heavy gold boot.

Janus held his hands to his head. "Aagh! You moron. Now what are they gonna do when they have the log AND look for that thing! The log's not in that! It's on a different server. It's wireless! You just sealed our fate with an extra coat!"

Duplex looked down at the ground sheepishly. He lifted his foot and looked at the crumbs of green plastic littering the floor with a finger nervously touching his mouth like a kid.

"You've just condemned us more than you'll ever know." Janus pulled out a saber sword from his hip, a different, less-developed model than Zero's with a purple blade. As he raised it over his head, no sooner did he ignite it than he cleaved it diagonally through the data machine. Sparks burst out like fireworks as cooling fluid hissed out in geysers. Smoke swirled in wisps into the air from the neat crosswise gash.

"What did you do?" Duplex asked astonishedly. Red klaxons began sounding throughout and flaming emergency red light flooded the room.

"Destroying the evidence of your blunder." Janus screamed, towering over him. "Do you ha-"

He stopped suddenly as he picked up the sound of the main doors opening. The gray reploid peeked around the corner of the box and saw two security personnel running towards them.

"Shit!" Duplex uttered much too loudly. "What're we gonna do now? What're we gonna do now? What're we gonna do?" He began to panic.

Janus leveled his arm cannon at Duplex's face. "Die."

Duplex's moment of still surprise let the fully charged blast into his face do the maximum damage. As if in slow motion, the burst propelled him backwards like a gold wrecking ball, smashing the partition behind him in concentric circles. His face billowed out smoke, half torn away like a grotesque freak, unveiling his face mold and the wiring held within. He slumped down and flopped to the side, deactivated.

"What's this?" One of the security reploids declared, coming upon the scene.

"I've come here just in time," Janus exclaimed exasperatedly. "Duplex was attempting to access important records but I put an end to him swiftly."

The other reploid guard knelt next to Duplex's corpse. "This was Duplex?"

"Aye. Emphasis on was."

"Looks like you sure did a number on him," the other commented.

"What the devil?" Dr. Cain suddenly appeared, hobbling rapidly over to the fray. "What's going on here? Janus?"

"Duplex, in truth, was a Maverick, sir. I caught him trying to access vital information from the server, and retired him."

"What were you doing down here? You don't do machine work."

"Uh, I was asked to run an errand down here by... Zero."

Dr. Cain eyed him curiously. "So why does the server have an obvious beam saber cut in it?"

"That was mine, sir. In my struggle with Duplex, I missed and accidentally sliced through box."

"You attacked him with your sword."

"Defended, more like."

"Whatever. And yet, Duplex was clearly killed by a plasma blast. A powerful one at that." Cain offered his hand to Duplex, as if Janus needed to be directed to the evidence.

"Well, I had to divert to secondary tactics then, of course. Desperate men act desperately."

Cain paused in thought. Janus' confident exterior would never betray the terror he felt inside as Cain's own mental computer processed the facts with his deceitful explanation of them.

Janus offered, "Once I damaged the server I knew the quarters were too close for a melee duel, so I took the quick and clean route. I knew none of the other systems would be damaged by a point-blank blast."

"We'll figure all this out later. Take Duplex and have him analyzed," he said to the security guards. "Get a disaster recovery team down here to salvage what we can, and where the devil is Zero? And X? Someone find them!"


	15. Act V, Scene 2

**ACT V, Scene 2**

Rotating red klaxons circled Zero's head like halos, bathing him in infra-red light matching his own exterior. Sirens resounded around him, but his ear had them tuned out. He knew they were there, he acknowledged them, and threw them away. It didn't matter if it was a Maverick attack, reactor explosion, or nuclear war. None of that mattered, not until he finished what had to be done. Because if he stopped now, it might never be.

Zero opened the door. Vermillionlights spun over the dark room, painting everything the color of blood except for green LEDs on the capsule monitor. The long silhouette of his form cast onto the floor, framed by the doorway. The two spires on the top of his head pointed to the blue android in the pod.

Zero traipsed up to him, but did nothing at first, only looked at his capsule. X did not look peaceful or passive, nor did he look restless. He simply looked like X. The form of X, an advanced robot-android, colored in blue, given the face of a young adult. A shell encapsulating a soul, a heart, a heart turned to darkness.

"X, I will not fight you on the battlefield. We have done that before. I will not give you the warrior's death, because you aren't a warrior. You were X, the first of your kind." Zero's eyes slowly shifted to the monitoring console next to the capsule, beeping with status indications. "So I'll let you die the way you could never live - in peace."

Zero used the computer to increase X's vigor, a step needed in what he would do next. The result was X fluttering his eyes open.

Something immediately hit X wrong with the glare of crimson beating his eyes. He knew he was discontinued prematurely and glanced Zero at the corner of his eye.

"Zero? Is that you?" he said groggily.

"Quiet, X."

"Zero, what are you doing?" X was held prisoner as long as his CPU was still attached. "Why are you messing with my capsule?"

"Because you're Maverick."

X began to panic. "Zero, I'm not Maverick, I told you."

"It's in the very nature of Mavericks to lie."

"Well, what kind of chance does that give me? Analyze me! Test me! I'm not a Maverick!"

"It would do no good. Once you're Maverick, you stay Maverick. There's no other choice." Zero took a disk out of his uniform and inserted it in the system.

"Why, Zero? Why do you think I'm Maverick. What did I ever do against the humans? And please don't tell me that I'm supposed to know."

Zero stepped back to face X as the disk's program loaded. "Do you remember the saber that you couldn't find?"

"Yes, what-"

"I found it."

Zero waited for X to make a response. X stared dumbly at Zero, waiting for him to continue with something relevant.

"It was caked in human blood!" Zero shouted, raising it up in the air from his belt.

"What?"

"There was a human killed with a beam saber on Wednesday night. The blood matched his, you murderer!"

"That's not true! I didn't do it." X pressed his hands on the glass.

"Then where were you that night?"

"I went..." X hastily tried to remember. "I- I went to the antarctic to visit the Dr. Light hologram." X realized what he was saying had the weight of a feather - no alibi, easily alterable transport records, no witnesses, and an already suspicious past.

"I'm sorry, X, but I can't believe you."

"God, Zero, don't give up on me. Analyze me for the virus!"

"The time for analyzing has passed." Zero stepped back to the console, which now displayed a prompt to execute the program.

"Zero! Zero!"

"You said that if you ever would become Maverick that I had to take care of you. Farewell, X."

Zero's finger hit 'enter'.

A knock came at the door. "Zero? Are you in there?" X looked up to the door, face aghast with dark hope. He looked back to Zero, who was glowering at the screen below, his eyes transfixed, and yet no longer looking. His mind was no longer attached to this reality.

"Zero! The door! The dddddooooor..." X heard his own speech betray what was happening to his body. Inside, he felt like his very essence was fading away.

"Zzzzzzeeeero... hhhhhhhhaaaaaalllllllllp..."

"Zero!" the voice behind the door again pleaded. "Are you in there?"

"Who's there?" Zero snapped to the door.

"It's Dr. Cain. Please open up."

Zero looked up to X. His form was still, his eyes ethereally opened. Zero re-executed the program to make sure the job was done.

Cain yelled out desperately, "Computer. Manual security override - door - one zero one zero zero."

The computer lifted the lock on the door and Cain rushed in.

"Zero, there was a hacker caught just now. One of our ranks, Duplex," he spoke between breaths.

"Duplex, a Maverick?"

"Yes, he was just caught trying to hack into one of the servers downstairs. That's why the alarms went off. Weren't you paying attention?"

Zero was only half in this world now. Some of Dr. Cain's speech only sounded like real words.

"Where is he now?"

"Killed. By Janus. Janus caught him and destroyed him."

"Janus? How interesting. It seemed to me they were friends at some point."

"Really?" Cain jerked his head back in surprise.

"Duplex was a Maverick too..." Zero said to himself.

"What do you mean 'too'?"

"C-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-ain..." X's body vibrated horrifically, lifting up his hand to the glass.

"Dear god! X!" Cain hobbled over to the glass. "My god!"

X shook like a broken down animatronic robot. "Zzzzzzzzzerrrrrrooooo. Saaaaavvvveeeee meeeee. I..."

Cain looked to the status monitor. "What is this program? X is completely gone. Who did this?" he asked semi-rhetorically. He looked up at X.

"Iiiiiiiiii... Iiiiiiiiiiiiii..." X stopped moving. Frozen in time, but the light had gone out from his eyes, showing he was truly dead now.

Cain frantically operated the computer, trying to get X back online. "This... this program. X is... this is a murder!" Cain turned to Zero. "Zero, what happened? Who did this?"

"X knew who killed him, but he did not say when you asked." Zero smirked to himself. "Even in death he did not wish to cause conflict."

"What? Zero, do you know who did it?"

"It was me."

Cain stopped his fluttering hands and turned around slowly. "What!" he backed up against the console, fear running cold in his veins, his heart pumping faster than his old age would permit.

"He was Maverick. It's my duty to destroy Mavericks, no matter who or where."

"X was not Maverick. He was never Maverick. He could not even be Maverick."

"He was. I have the evidence. He killed a human." Zero held up the handle of the saber covered in coagulated brown blood.

"No, that's not true."

"Ask Janus. He's the one that found out firsthand."

"Janus?"

"Janus. Janus said X was Maverick. He brought me the saber himself. He forced a confession out of him."

"Janus? Janus?"

"Yes, Janus! Why do you keep repeating me?" Zero was losing his temper.

"Janus and Duplex were friends, but Janus was there in the computer room..." Cain mumbled to himself. "The saber... the murder..." Cain pointed squarely at Zero. "You were deceived."

"How dare you..." Zero angrily glared at Cain, though not in a murderous tone. Cain was not afraid, for the human doctor had his fear vindicated by the truth.

"You fool. You were deceived. You were blindfolded and led around like a puppy."

"What are you babbling about?"

Zero caught motion behind him and spun around, his battle instinct taking control. A set of officers, accompanied by Janus, entered the room.

"Sir, we've done a perimeter security check. No signs of enemy activity."

"Janus, get in here!" Cain yelled like a disciplining parent.

Janus, confused, stepped in front of the security guards.

"Are you the one who gave Zero X's saber?"

Janus shifted eyes to the left, then back to eye contact with Cain. "Aye."

"And you told him that X had become Maverick and killed a human."

"Aye. The evidence was there-"

"There was no evidence. It was all you. Everything came from you. All the evidence was through your bottleneck. Not one thing was through Zero's own intuition."

Zero glanced back and forth between Janus and Cain. His brain was processing a thousand things at once and none of them could he comprehend.

"If anyone's the Maverick here, it's you!" Cain screamed resolutely.

"You would be wise to hold your tongue. Do not defame my character," Janus replied through gritted teeth.

"Oh god. I'm glad Dr. Light is dead. He would kill himself at the sight of what his progeny has done. He must be rolling in his grave as we speak."

"No, No!" Zero held his hands to his head. "No, X was Maverick. I saw it. This is his saber." Zero held it up for everyone to see, firmly gripped in his hand. "I gave it to him. It was his to do with and he violated it with human blood."

"Did you ever ask how Janus got the saber in the first place?"

Zero's head whipped to the gray reploid. Janus stammered, "I- I it- I found it. It was in-"

Zero frowned but Cain continued unhindered.

"And this confession? What exactly did X say?"

Janus slowly withdrew his light sword out of his belt scabbard by his fingers, unseen by any around him.

Zero turned back to Cain, "Well, the audio wasn't working well, I could only hear X. But I distinctly heard him denounce General Brandle and the military. And he said 'they should all be eradicated'.

"Zero, no one likes General Brandle, and everyone who's not in the military thinks they should be removed. You just used those same words. What if they were heard out of context?"

Zero was only allowed the briefest seconds to think it over before Janus yelled "LIAR!"

Zero turned to Janus with hate in his eyes. "BETRAYER!" He pulled out his own Z-saber and leapt forward on Janus ferociously. Janus was ready and ignited his violet beam saber and parried Zero's blow. Zero fell to the side, knocked off his balance by the blow, as Janus spun around his form. The security guards went into action. They seized Zero's arms and took his sword out of his hands. Janus whipped forward and slashed horizontally across Dr. Cain's chest.

"Accurrk," the doctor made a guttural sound as blood soaked through his shirt, burnt along the edges where the blade made contact.

"Good human, play dead," Janus said.

Cain fell to his knees in front of the capsule, clutching his wound.

Janus burst through the group of security officers like a football linebacker before any of them had a chance to react.

"Get after him," said one. "Seize him!"

Another of the guards spoke into his comm link. "Attention all personnel, APB for Maverick Hunter Janus. Gray, lean, with star model helmet. Currently in pursuit in east wing 4F..." he trailed off as he and the others made pursuit.

Zero was left all alone on his hands and knees, staring at the floor, weak as a kitten. He was trembling like a scared boy, his eyes wide as dinner plates, his pupils thin as a pinhead. The moment he had for reflection of the information had come and it hit him like a falling wall.

"Zero," Cain coughed. Zero snapped out of his reverie and turned to him. A pool of blood was starting to seep out from under his torso. "Zero, come here." Zero stumbled upright and quickly ran to Cain's side. The doctor had not even the strength to lift his head. "Zero... X... would never betray you. He always said... you were like a brother to him..."

Cain fell silent. He uttered a slight cough and breath rushed out of his mouth. He was dead.

Zero stood up and looked away from his body. He spotted the Z-saber, X's, lying in the middle of the room, bathed in the ray of yellow light coming in from the doorway. He walked over and picked it up again and sheathed it in his belt.

Looking up he spotted three security officers, armored in caution yellow with red trim, standing in the doorway, silhouetted in the light.

"Did you catch him?" Zero said emotionlessly.

They said nothing at first. "We've come to take you into custody, sir."

Zero looked up with alarm.

The guard continued. His tone gave away his inexperience and uncertainty. "We've orders to detain you until trial. You've committed a murder. A non-Maverick reploid has killed another non-Maverick reploid."

Zero understood. The implication of what he had done would reach far and wide. There was no precedent for what he had done. There was no law to judge him. He turned around slowly and deliberately, looking at X's body in the capsule, hovering above Cain's slumped form.

"I have a sword," Zero said.

"We've been ordered to disarm you and decommission you."

"Captain!" the voice on the guard's comm link blared through its tinny speaker. "We've captured Janus. We're heading to your location now."

"Understood," the captain responded.

The security team was unsure of what to do. Zero was making no move to defend himself, but his back was turned. He was eerily calm. How would they have fought the finest robot warrior ever known? Would they have been able to take him down if he resisted? Four guards, two holding Janus, came shortly thereafter and stepped into the room.

"Sir?" one said to the captain, awaiting further orders and wondering what was transpiring here.

"Janus," the captain said, though still staring at Zero. "Do you have anything to say?"

Janus paused a moment. "I wonder if there's a reploid afterlife," he mused in a sing-song voice.

Zero shuddered once. "If there is I'll make sure you GET THERE!" Zero leapt forward swinging down his saber. The green light ripped through Janus' side. The guard instinctively kicked Zero in the midriff, propelling him backwards, away from Janus.

"Disarm him!" the captain demanded.

"Stay back!" Zero brandished his weapon to any guards that motioned forward, the lethality of his saber skills well known. He twirled the green blade, leaving vapor trails of green plasma in front of him, a solemn humming sounded from the rod.

Janus quietly chuckled to himself as he released his gashed side, cackling louder and louder until it became a full-mouthed laugh. "Ah, Zero. You still can't seem to finish any job correctly, can you?"

"Silence!" the captain ordered. He pulled a disk. "We needn't hear anymore from you anyway. You see this?" he waved it in front of Janus' face. "This is a little confessional from Duplex we found hidden on his person, his personal log. Yeah, it states everything you've done, from trying to implicate Zero as a hacker, to trying to frame X, to provoking X to attack, to framing him for murder and then trying to manipulate Zero into believing it all. He paid you quite a hefty sum for the fate he got. He was trying to vindicate himself, but it just led to your condemnation."

"Janus," Zero interrupted, breathing like a ragged man. He spoke in a collected voice. "Let me just ask you one last thing. And answer me as honestly as if it were the last data you'll have. The blood on the saber. Did you put it there? Are you the one responsible?"

Janus lifted his head. "I am Maverick."

Zero dropped his chin.

The guard captain interjected. "Enough of this. This is finished. Zero, you are to be arrested and detained for the murder of Mega Man X. You will await to stand trial. Since no non-Maverick reploid has ever been arrested there are no rights to read you. However I can read you the rights as a human would receive."

"Shut up," Zero spoke softly. "Just shut up. Shut up! All of you! You. Do you know how much I've done for you? How much I've sacrificed. The world has been saved a dozen times over because of what X and I have done. For you. Because of what we gave up. For the humans. And yet all you are going to remember is this. This one incident where duty and manipulation and anger took over honor and loyalty. That's all you'll get. That's what the history books will say. But when someone asks you what Zero was like, what drove him to it, what was so fucked up about him that he killed his brother, you tell them this. You tell them how Vile and his ride armor had X trapped in an energy freeze. You tell them how I broke out of my prison field with my last ounce of energy. And you say that I jumped onto Vile's Goliath and overloaded his own power generator like this."

Zero switched his grip on his saber, turned it to his chest and stabbed himself in the heart with it. Blue particles sputtered forth in the air as fireballs fountained out of Zero's broken chest armor. The security team shielded their eyes from the energy flooding forward.

"AAAAAAARGH!" White light enveloped Zero's form, screaming as his body ripped itself apart. A black silhouette of his body was all anyone could see. The force of the explosion threw himself backwards, smacking against X's capsule with a dead thud, propped over the body of Dr. Cain.

The crimson android looked up at X's form, his eyes closed, leaning forward. As Zero slid down, unable to support his own weight any longer, he said, "X... I'm sorry. I..."

He hit the ground and spoke no more. Sitting up in front of X's body, his eyes forever gazing heavenward.

The captain looked on the scene with shock in his eyes, his head darting back and forth between the bodies on the floor, his eyes on the verge of tears. He yelled in frustration and slapped Janus across the face. "There are no words to describe the horror of this." He grabbed Janus by the center spire of his helmet. "Look at your work. Look at what you've done. I hope reploids can feel as much pain as possible because that is the only punishment suitable for you. I will guarantee justice will be done if I have to do it myself. Get him out of here!" The captain screamed, unable to contain what he felt inside. The guards holding Janus took him out of the room.

"And this..." the captain added, looking at the trinity of corpses lying together. "Let's hope no one sees the fruit of what's been done today. If it can be undone, if X and Zero can be recovered, its memory should be sealed up. Let it be hid, forever."

The captain turned away from the scene and exited the room, shutting the door behind him, leaving it shrouded in darkness.

- E X E U N T -


	16. Author's Notes

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 

I have never read Othello. 

At least not fully. This was part of one of the final classes in college I had to take before I finished the literature part of my creative writing minor (software engineering major). We were supposed to read Othello throughout the class, but I stopped around Act III when it stopped making sense and relied on the SparkNotes version to get me through. Which it did. I wasn't real picky about what I chose so this was it. Suprisingly, not as much time was spent discussing Othello as it was spent discussing issues and themes in Othello, such as racism, love, violence, black magic, and deception, done through other works of the period. Shakespeare's play was dissected in detail from the first lines of Iago to somewhere in Act IV (we didn't finish in time, like most classes). As class ended, I realized how some of the same themes were present in the Mega Man X universe – humans vs. reploids, paranoia over the Maverick virus, friendship and betrayal, especially in times of war. I decided to try and hybridize stories as an experiment, something I've only done once before. 

During the planning stages, I ran through several possible concepts. Of course, the obvious route would be yaoi – have Zero and Mega Man X in love. I didn't do this for two reasons. 1. I don't like yaoi, it's overdone and unjustified (especially in the Mega Man universe) and I couldn't write it if I tried. 2. It was too obvious. I might as well write the full text of the play and cut and paste X and Zero's names in there. The next idea was to have Zero fall in love with a human. With this, I was planning to play the racism card as in Othello regarding humans and reploids in romantic relationships and its consequences. This was declined, as the idea of X betraying Zero was more emotionally potent and also more fitting and original. New original characters were created to fill the roles of the antagonists, something I try to avoid doing to prevent being accused of creating Mary Sues. It was originally intended as a gaiden – side story, not really taking place in any particular scenario, semi-alternate universe – but the elements that I ended up including made it perfect to put after Mega Man X4. 

As far as the final result, I'm happy the quality produced enough motivation in me to finish, but I don't think hybridizing stories is something I would try again. It's more difficult than it looks to force characters into pre-planned situations using different elements. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Shakespeare's plays, I don't think I was able to scratch under the surface of the characters' motivations enough to justify them to the conclusion that is wrought. But in any case, I hope you enjoyed reading. Here are a few more interesting tidbits. 

"A place for everything and everything in its place" in Act III, Scene 4 is also the first line in the 20 page final research project in my Othello class. 

I made the stabbing of a human particularly bloody as a homage to Shakespearean violence, which movies like Kill Bill and From Dusk Till Dawn have got nothing on (Don't believe me? Read Titus Andronicus). 

Janus' speech about those who question his motives was partly taken from my final essay test in Othello class, the question for which was "What makes Iago a villain? Is he the villain of this play? What are his motives? Does he have any?" 

In Act III, Scene 4, the extraneous "don't go there" is a reference to The Simpsons, as well as the "yeeeeees?" 

August 10, the day mentioned in Mega Man X's photo, is my fiancee's birthday. 

Janus original name was Setalin, just for the sound of it. Other possible names included Amsham, Plato, Trech, Crafti, and Fibonacci. Janus was chosen because of a reference in the original Othello, which is a reference to a god of Greece (look it up). 

Strike Fox is made up, and Capcom is free to cop it (and likely to do so) for one of their future reploids, once they've run out of vegetables (Spirit Mushroom? Tornado Tonion?). Straylight is a name based (stolen) from William Gibson's Neuromancer. 

The crack team of reploids Dr. Cain mentions in Act II, Scene 2 are, of course, Signas, Douglas, Lifesaver, and Alia, who are constants in nearly all Mega Man X games after Mega Man X4. 

Duplex's other possible names included Mabell, Source, Grade, Reglan, Task, Logo, Logic, SequeL, Sector, Mux, Protocol, and Asky. Duplex was chosen because it sounds like the word 'dupe'. 

The line in Act I, Scene 1 about the underground being plentiful and economic is gleaned from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in which Willy Wonka explains why his factory slopes downward. 

The guard scene in Act III, Scene 4 is an obvious nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They're meant to represent comic relief at this point in the play by a clown, which I always thought was out of place in both this work and his. 

In the same scene, the taupe paneling is a reference to Ocean's Eleven, where the Brad Pitt character tells his theory to the George Clooney as to why "hallways are always painted that color". 

In Act IV, Scene 2, Cain says "People used them like napkins, wiping their mouths and then throwing them away." This is a reference to the original Othello, where Cassio uses Desdemona's napkin/scarf like a handkerchief, wiping his mouth and throwing it on the floor. 

Lina's comment about the Mavericks preference for taking over power plants in Act II, Scene 1, is a not-so-subtle jibe at the fact that in Mega Man X games, Mavericks always seem to take over a power plant. This is also seen in the argument between scientists in Act I, Scene 3. 

Tyro was originally named Bear. He was renamed so as not to confuse him with one of the animalistic reploid mavericks X often faces and to make him more rookie-like, as Tyro means "someone new to a field or activity". 

Janus uses a Personal Electronic Terminal in Act III, Scene 2. Personal Electronic Terminal P.E.T. Mega Man: Battle Network. 

In Act V, Scene 2, when Cain says "You were like a brother to him", that is an allusion to the similarities between Zero and Protoman. 

Janus' quote about suspicion being the 'black dog' in Act III, Scene 3 is a reference to Cowboy Bebop, one of my favorite animes. 

For those who don't know, Doc Robots were used in the Mega Man Classic universe, particularly in Mega Man III. They were those skull-ish robots with big shoulders who took on the attack patterns of robot masters from Mega Man II. 

The line in Act III about X hating to be idle comes from my Introduction to Computer Science class, in which one of the principles was "never let the CPU be idle". 

Some of the robots Zero meets in the training center are similar to what he'll end up facing in the Mega Man Zero series. 

Several times during both ZerOthello and Othello, people wish to see 'ocular proof', most notably Othello/Zero. The odd thing is, neither one receives actual proof that can be seen. 

The reference at the beginning of Act 3, Scene 3 regarding the SP model of the holographic emitter is an obvious cutting reference to the Game Boy Advance. 

Janus' login screen is similar to the startup screen in Mega Man X. 


End file.
